Emerald Wind
by Cryptic Ash
Summary: Don't read this either... please. Unless you want your eyes scarred and all of that.
1. Default Chapter

Hello, this is my first Soul Calibur II fic. So if I do bad, please let me know! I want to make this story as good as possible. My name is CrypticElf, and I hope that all of you like this story. Also, I'm looking for online friends, so if you're interested then please look at my Bio for more info! Ok, here's the story!

I own nothing of Soul Calibur II and never will, but the script is mine so if you take it I get to sue you!

Chapter One: An Unexpected Meeting

A young man around seventeen stood on a hill covered with grass. He had ears that were pointed, and they stuck out much farther then normal human ears would go. He wore a dark green tunic with tights on his arms and legs. His eyes were a magnificent light blue. He wore gauntlets, a belt and boots, both the color of dark brown. He had an odd dark green hat that went all the way down to his belt, his light blond hair coming out at the front over his forehead. And his name was Link.

Link paused as he looked out at this new world that almost looked like his own home. But he knew that it wasn't, and that he would never return to his home again.He would never see the Korkori, Malon, Talon, Navi, Epona, not even the Gerado, Zora, or the Gorons. The person who he would miss the most would be his sister, Zelda.

Zelda, her face and smile would always be in his mind. But he would never be able to hug her in a brotherly way or tell her how happy he was to have a sister like him.

The Hero Time was no longer considered alive in Hyrule. Now he was just a thing in history, just like Ganondorf was. His closest friends would remember, but no one else would remember him. To others he would simply be another chapter or perhaps just a person in the page of a book. Nothing more.

He sighed and looked around at the hill that he had been sent to. He had no idea where he was, and he didn't even know how close a town was. That was the first thing that he had to do, to find out where he was and where the closest town or city was.

A young girl around the age of fifteen stood at the edge of a forest. Her hair was like a black raven's wing and round brown eyes so dark that they looked almost black. Her skin was dark and tanned from the sun. For a shirt she had a piece of green that simply covered her cleavage and breasts and nothing else. Her pants were white, but they split out in four different places and the pieces stuck out, revealing that the inside of the pants were a dark red. She had something like sleeves that came out like cups as they came up to the middle of her upped arm. Her hair was split in two and were held in place with large circular pieces of something that looked like gold with an odd design on it. She had a clip on the back of her head. And if you looked closely at her hair you would realize that they were completely made up of braids all put together.

She had a large necklace around her neck. She had boots on with uneven tight dark green wraps that came out of them, meaning to be something like socks. She had a small purse that hung on a loop on her pants, and two elbow blades that she held on each hand and she also let both face downward instead of up as they would when she fought. Her nails were painted light orange.

And even though there hadn't been any wind, right went she came out the grass moved as the wind touched it with its gentle fingers.

Her name was Talim, and she was on a quest to stop the evil that threatened to destroy the world.

She looked out at the grass filled hills that was before her. It looked odd from seeing so many tree and bushes for so long. But she welcomed it just the same, and a pleasant breeze of the wind went by her.

"Where to now?" She asked herself, she had grown used to talking to herself. She hadn't seen any one that was human in a long time, and the only thing that she ever talked to was herself, animals or the wind.

"Well, I have all of this space, so I might as well get going."

She began walking, and the wind followed her. Blowing in the direction that she was walking in.

Talim looked up at the sky towards the sun as she moved, it would be about two hours before the sun would set. She needed to find somewhere to camp, and that would be easy for she had plenty of space to pick from. But she was low on water, and so she needed to find a stream or river.

"Wind, where would I find water?" Talim asked as she continued walking.

_'To the North-East, it will take a while to get there.'_

"Thank you."

The wind didn't answer, but kept on blowing freely around Talim.

Link walked down the hill, he hoped that there was someone that was friendly that he could talk to nearby.

Suddenly, someone came from the top of the hill left of Link. He ducked and watched the strange figure.

The person was clearly female. But the thing that made Link cautious of her was that she wore shirts of the Gerado, and even though her pants didn't go all the way down they still puffed out. But the most dangerous thing about her was her ears... they were round. That meant was that _she _was a Gerado. Did the Gerado also live here? If so, then Link didn't know if this person could be someone he could trust.

She still didn't seem to see him, and so Link waited until she was close enough and then he jumped up in her path and pulled out his sword and pointed it at her. She looked shocked, but then she calmed down and started speaking.

"Please, let me through."

Link stared at her, what in Farore's name had she just said? Then, she gave him a startled look.

"Your ears!"

At first it seemed as if she was going to attack him, but he read her wrong as a look of curiosity crossed the girl's face as she looked back at him.

"Who are you?" She asked him in a gentle voice, Link calmed down but he kept his weapon up. She might just be trying to trick him.

"Esin feaknie eashi?" Link asked her, she looked back at him.

"I'm sorry, I don't understand you." She told him in a sad voice.

"Esin feaknie eashi?" Link asked her, he just wanted to know her name!

"I can't understand you, what are you speaking?" She asked him again. Then she paused as a breeze of wind passed by her. Then she smiled and looked at Link.

"I get it, you aren't from here are you? If only I could understand you...."

Link was getting irritated, what was she saying? She was speaking in a language that he didn't know. But he was in a different world, what should he expect?

He could only think of one thing, and he hoped that his prayer would reach Nayru in this world. He prayed that he could understand this girl, that he could talk her language. For if he couldn't tell what she was saying, then he wouldn't be able to talk to anyone in this world!

'Please Nayru I need your wisdom. If I can't speak to this girl, how can I talk to anyone here? I need ways to speak to help me in my quest. Farore, Din, please help me as well!'

"My name is Talim." The girl before him said, he still couldn't understand her. His prayer hadn't worked....

"My name is Talim." She told him again. This time it sounded clearer then before!

"Can you understand me? My name is Talim." This time he knew what she had said his prayer had worked!

"I can understand you." He replied to her as if he had been able to speak her language this whole time.

"I mean no harm, if you're a thief or bandit then I will fight you. But please, I wish to simply pass and go on."

"Fight? Fight with what?"

"Please, let me through...."

"Where are you going?"

"Must I tell you?"

"No."

"Then may I pass?"

"No."

Talim sighed. She wished that she hadn't met this person; even though his ears had gotten her interest he wouldn't let her through. She didn't want to do this, but she had to.

Link looked at the girl, and finally he put his weapon and shield down.

That had been a mistake, for right after he did that the girl raced foreword and smacked the handle of her weapon into his stomach. All of his air was pushed out, and Link fell backwards as he gasped for air.

The girl raced off, saying this as she ran:

"I'm sorry! But you wouldn't let me through!"

Link got all of his air back, and soon he stood back up and grabbed his weapon and shield. He began running after the girl, he needed her help. He hadn't meant to... well... she hadn't let him ask for her help.

She eventually noticed him, and so she ran faster. Link ran faster as well, how was this girl moving so fast?

"Wait! I need your help!" Link cried out to her, she suddenly stopped and turned around. Link nearly ran into her, but stopped himself just in time.

"What?" She asked him.

"Um, where are we?"

"Where are we? We are near Regulus, are you lost?"

"Well, yes."

"Hmm...."

The girl thought for a moment and then she smiled at him again.

"You need a guide."

"I suppose that I do."

Her smile disappeared and her face turned serious again.

"But I can't tell if you aren't trying to trick me."

"How can I prove to you that I'm not tricking you?"

"Let's fight."

"What? Fight?"

"Yes."

"But... no offence but I don't think that I could fight you."

"Why not?"

"You're... to small."

This seemed to make her angry at first, but then she calmed down.

"You can be easy on me if you like, but I will try my hardest."

She got in a battle position, she was going to fight. But with those things? They didn't look too threatening. Link sighed and got in a fighting position as well.

The girl looked at him, and then said.

"Well, let's begin!"

She raced strait foreword, what was she doing? Link ran foreword as well, his sword pointed strait ahead. He would hit her in the chest, what was she doing?

Then without any warning she smacked his weapon down, tripping Link over. As he fell foreword she kicked him in the chin, making him fall backwards. As he fell backwards he put his hands before his head and did a back flip. As he landed the girl ran foreword, but then suddenly she swerved to his right just as he made a swing.

She had made him vulnerable again!

Again, he kicked him in the chin. But before he was able to do a back flip, she jumped on top of him and laid on him.

She had won.

"Ok, I won!" She laughed as she got off of him, and Link scowled and sat up as he rubbed his chin.

"So, I guess that you're tougher then you look." Link told her as he stood up and dusted himself off. "So, are you going to be my guide?"

She turned serious again and looked at Link in the eyes.

"Well, while we were fighting, I didn't feel anything evil coming from your body.... So it seems that you have only good intentions. I would be happy to be your guide! At least until we reach the first town."

Link sighed as he rubbed his sore chin. Now he had a guide.

"What's your name?" She asked him happily as she began walking.

"Link." He told her as he followed behind her.

"Link? Oh, I've heard it as a word but never as a name. I like it. Mine is Talim, in case you don't remember."

"Ok, Talim. Do you know what a Gerado is?"

"No, is it something that I must know?"

"No, and does everyone in this world have round ears?"

Talim giggled and answered him.

"You're the first that I've ever seen that has long pointed ears."

Well, that answered his question. Now he had one more thing to ask....

"How old are you?"

"Fifteen Winds."

"Winds?"

"Oops, I mean years. Where I come from, we say Winds."

"Fifteen? You have to be older then that!"

"Nope."

"Really, how old are you?"

"Fifteen."

"That can't be."

"Why not? Just because I beat you doesn't mean that I have to be older then sixteen you know."

"But... never mind. I guess that you are fifteen. You're short you know, so I guess that you are."

Talim laughed again.

"Well, I am short, and I'm not ashamed of that! Being short makes me faster then others."

"So, when you fight, you use your speed?"

"Yes."

Link couldn't think of anything else to say, and the girl named Talim said nothing as well. But after half and hour passed, Link could hear Talim singing softly.

"Let the.... Guide us...." He couldn't hear her that well, and could only catch pieces and bits of what she was saying.

"Our.... Blend together..."

She kept on singing, but soon she stopped. Link felt odd, he felt like he should say something....

"Where are you from, Talim?"

"No one has asked me that in a long time.... I am from a village south of the land that we are traveling on right now. I have been traveling for at least a month now. How long have you been here?"

"What do you mean by 'here'?"

"How long have you been in this world? I don't think that you come from this one.

"For less then an hour." Link admitted feeling embarrassed.

"Oh! How is your world?"  
"My world? Well, it's hard to explain...."

"You don't have to tell if you don't want to."

"Alright."

Link was happy that he didn't have to say anything about where he was from. Now he felt sad and depressed, Zelda... the Korkori....

"We should make camp soon." Talim told Link, calling him out of his thoughts.

"Um, right."

Link sat down quietly, his bread in one hand as he looked up at the sky as stars started coming out.

"Water?" Talim asked him as she held out her canteen, but Link smiled shook his head.

"I have my own, thanks." He told her as he raised his up and shook it and the sound of water was heard. Talim nodded and picked up her own piece of bread and started eating it.

After a few minutes passed, Talim asked a question that Link thought that he would never hear.

"You're searching for Soul Edge, aren't you?" Her voice was dark and cryptic, and Link looked up at her with surprise. But she was looking out into space, into the wind.

"How did you know? Do you know what it is?"

"Soul Edge is a horrible sword that takes souls and devours them. At least, that is what I have heard. I have a piece of it."

Link's eyes widened as he pulled out his own piece and held it out. Talim looked at it, and then took hers out as well.

Suddenly, the pieces began glowing and pulsing. And then they flew foreword, and in a flash of flame they fuse together and then fell to the ground.

Talim gasped as she leaned over and looked at the fused piece, Link leaned foreword as well and gingerly picked up the piece.

"It fused together... I can't believe it!"

Talim crawled over and looked over Link's shoulder.

"Hmm. is it a good thing that it fused? Or a bad thing? I don't think that it's a thing."

"You're right, it isn't good." Link told her. Then an idea came into his head. He turned around and looked at Talim.

"Hey, why don't we team up?"

"Team up?" She asked him.

"Yeah, we could to do better if we worked together instead of going against each other. Wouldn't it?"

Talim thought for a moment, then looked back at Link with her full attention.

"Well, I suppose that we could.... But I don't know enough about you. And I don't how well you fight."

"True, you have a good point.... I know we could fight again."

Talim shook her head.

"No, I think that I know how we shall decide."

"How?"

"From what I have heard, Regulus is known for training new warriors. If we pass their test, then we shall know if both of us are trustworthy!"

Link paused and thought he didn't like the thought of being treated like someone who didn't know what they were doing. But then again he would know how well Talim fought and if he could trust her.

"Alright, just how far is this Regulus?"

"I think about just a day or two away. Not that far." Talim told him, Link nodded with a smile on his face.

"But, Link... your ears. I don't think that others will treat as kindly as I have to you."

Link's smile went away, she was right. He was lucky enough that Talim didn't scream and run off at the sight of his ears.

"You're right, but how will we hide them?"

"Hmm...." Talim looked at the sky with the red sunlight shinning on her hair. "What about a cloak?" she suggested kindly. Link nodded, it was the only idea that he had as well.

"But where will we get one?" Link asked her. Talim's face lit up and she smiled again.

"I have one! You can use it. So until we think of another way to hide your ears we can use a cloak."

"Hmm. Sounds good to me."

"Wait! I have another idea! Why don't you hide them in your hat?"

Link smiled as he touched his hat, it would be a lot better then wearing a cloak that would probably only come up to his knees.

"I like that idea, it would be better then wearing a cloak."

Link had a little trouble putting his ears in his hat, but he did in less then a minute.

Talim looked at him, and then reaching forward she pulled the hat closer to his face.

"There, now it's perfect!" She cried out, the sun was practically down now. And only a little light remained. Talim was actually a very pretty girl, perhaps not beautiful. But when she would get older, you could tell that she would be one of the fortunate women who had their looks.

Link looked at Talim and smiled, she seemed like someone who could be trusted. But he could never sure. But there was something about her that made him trust her.

"Well, do you have a blanket Link?" Talim asked him.

"Um, yes."

"Alright then, I suppose that you should go to sleep. I'll make sure that nothing sneaks up on us!"

"You sure?"

"Of course I am!"

"Alright, goodnight.... What about a fire?"

"Oh, the night will be cold enough to need a blanket but not a fire. You would get too hot."

"Alright, goodnight."

"Goodnight."

Link grabbed his blanket and laid down. Closing his eyes, he thought and dreamed about Hyrule.

Talim waited well into the night before she grabbed her Wind Guides. She didn't want Link to see her dancing.

She walked a little away from the camp so that way she could dance without waking up Link but close enough so that she could still keep watch.

Lifting her arms up, she began to swoop and swerve in circular patterns. She twirled the Wind Guides in her hands as she danced, keeping her balance. She danced for longer then she thought, memories of her village dancing in her mind. She had no music to dance to, nor a partner to dance at her side. But she still felt the power of the Wind coursing through her.

Talim finally did the last step to finish; the same move that you did with all of the other Wind dances to signal that you had done your dance.

Talim quietly walked back to the camp, wondering how long she had been dancing. According to the sweat that covered her face, a long time.

She glanced at Link, and for a moment she thought that she saw an open eye but soon dismissed as she looked closer. Sighing, she sat down and looked at the stars.

After a few minutes passed by, someone shook her shoulder. Talim looked over and saw that it was Link.

"You need to get some sleep." He told her quietly. Talim smiled and shook her head.

"No, I'm fine."

"Well, why are you covered in sweat?"

Talim looked down at herself, she was still covered in sweat. She hadn't bothered to wipe it off.

"Well...." She began, but Link cut in before she could finish what she was going to say.

"You need some sleep, I don't care what you say."

Talim yelped when Link suddenly picked Talim up and put her in his sleeping spot. She tried to get back up but he put his blanket on top of her.

"Get some sleep, I'll see you in the morning."

Link turned away, and Talim stared at his back.

Well, she might as well get some sleep.

Closing her eyes, she sighed and went to sleep as the wind blew by her.

Ok, I hope that the first chapter wasn't bad! And yes, in this story Zelda is Link's SISTER! In my Zelda story called Truth, she isn't. But in this one she is, got it? I know some of you probably want to kill me, but oh well. I don't even like the idea of Zelda being Link's sister. But that's that, and that's how the story is. I couldn't stand letting having Link and Zelda in love and yet they couldn't be together!

Link: Just shut up and get the next chapter going!

Talim: I agree with Link.

O.O When did you two get here?

Talim: I'm not sure, I was somewhere and then I was here.

Link: What she said.

Ok, whatever.... Um, please review! Oh, and if you like Zelda: The Ocarina of Time or the game GoldenSun then please read my other stories!

So Until Next Time,

CrypticElf....


	2. Seeing Their Hearts

Hello, it's CrypticElf! Thank you, reviewers for telling me my little error in my summery in the story. I changed the summery, but if I did something in the first chapter that had something to do with error please tell me.

Another thing, yes Talim's nails are orange in her first outfit. If you go and look at the pictures with the ones that are computerized and look at Talim's picture, her nails are orange.

And another thing, I'm sorry for not describing Link's weapon. I forgot to I shouldn't have. Thank you for the flame though... it made me stronger.

Link: So when's this story going to start?

Right now!

I own nothing of Soul Calibur II, but the script and Strange Room is mine and if you take it I get to sue you! YEE HAW!!

Chapter Two: Seeing Their Hearts

Talim woke up just as the rays of sunlight started peering out of the horizon. She sat up and stretched her arms up, and then took in a deep breath of fresh clean air.

"A new day has arrive!" She said to herself, she jumped when someone that wasn't herself or the wind answered her.

"Yep, how did you sleep?"

Talim looked at the source, and then memories of what had happened the day before filled her mind.

"Oh, hello Link. How long have I been asleep?"

"Five hours or so. You kept watch a long time last night."

"I was glad to."

"I don't believe that!"

"Why not?" She asked him in her curious tone.

"I don't think that anyone likes to be up just watching for something that probably won't come."

"Well, I like looking at the stars. Or perhaps just to spend sometime with yourself. And something could always pop up at you, so keeping watch is always important."

Link nodded, it was always important. But it could be so _boring_ to just sit there and do nothing.

Did Talim dance every night like that? It seemed that she had been dancing all of her life, or at least that dance. The way that she moved, it was like she was moving... like the wind. For some reason, when she danced last night it made him feel like he was watching the wind dance.

He almost wished that he knew how to dance like that. He didn't like to dance, but it would be something to do during the night.

"You're right, you win!" He told her as she finished wrapping his blanket up. She held it out him, and Link took it and put it up in his pack.

"Thank you for the blanket, Link. You didn't have to."

"I didn't, but I did."

Talim smiled and laughed playfully as she picked up her own pack and pulled out a small piece of bread. She stuffed it into her mouth and swung her pack on her back and then she stood up.

"Ready when you are." She told Link as he stood up as well with his pack on his back.

"I'm ready, but I have to tell you that you wake up quickly."

Talim laughed again.

"Oh, well I get used to it. Usually I wake up before dawn, but I guess that I was really tired this night."

"Well, I guess so."

And with that said they started out, walking together, but not side-by-side.

Two day later, they arrived at Regulus. It was just around noon, and the sun stared down at them.

Standing before the gate, Link and Talim looked up at it.

"Well, how do we get in?" Link asked, Talim answered him by walking up and pounding on the door.

"HELLO? IS THERE ANYONE THERE?"

"Um, Talim, I think that they can hear you. You really don't have to yell like that...."

"HELLO?"

Talim continued pounding on the door, luckily when the door opened her fist was caught mid air before it was going to hit the man's face.

"Oh, hello." Talim said to him, she didn't try to free her hand.

"Hmm." He replied. Link started thinking that it hadn't been such a good idea to go to Regulus.

"Me and my friend would like to train here." Talim told him in a kind voice, he turned her hand over. Not to twist it, but to look at it.

"Hmm." He said again as he looked at her hand. Then he looked back up at Talim. "How old are you? You aren't strong enough to lift a barrel!"

Talim didn't seem to take this as an insult.

"I'm fifteen." She told him, he grunted and looked at her hand again. Then he looked at Link.

"Come here, boy."

Link came over, reading to draw his weapon if he had to. The man let go of Talim's hand and seized Link's hand. Seeing that Link's hand was covered, he started looking at his arm.

"Hmm..." the man went into deep thought, and then he looked back up at Link. This time the man actually looked friendly. "You could train here, but not her. She wouldn't be strong enough."

Now Talim didn't look like she was going to cut the man's head off, but you could tell that she wasn't happy.

"Please, how can I prove to you that I can train here?" Talim asked.

"There is no way, you're too small. I've never met anyone here that is as tall or shorter then you that wants to train. You are too small and weak." He told her.

"Please...." Talim told him, he didn't even look at her.

"Come on boy, you look like you have some promise." The man started dragging Link in, but Talim stepped in his way and lifted her Elbow Blades.

"Please, let me fight someone to prove that I can fight!"

The man laughed, and waved his hand at Talim.

"I couldn't be responsible if you got hurt, you know!"

"Yes, I'm willing to take that risk. If I fail then you may kick me out and I won't resist!"

"Alright! I'll do it if you'll calm down!"

Talim smiled and then said this.

"Thank you!"

The man sighed and said something under his breath that neither Link nor Talim were about to catch.

The man let go of Link as they stepped inside, and Talim stepped up right next to Link.

"We were able to get in!" Talim told him with a large smile on her face. Link smiled as well, for a moment he had thought he would have been forced to leave Talim. Link looked around and saw many stares; at first it looked like they were looking at him. But then he realized that they were all staring at Talim.

"Talim, everyone is looking at you." Link whispered in her ear.

"Oh, that's Ok." Talim whispered back.

After about fifteen minutes, the three of them arrived at a stadium.

"Alright, there's your opponent." The man pointed at a young man with red hair and a strange curved sword. The young man looked at Link at first and smiled. The man that had been guiding them shook his head. "No, this girl is your opponent"

The smile disappeared and the young man gave a look of anger.

"WHAT? I'm not going to fight that midget!"

"Well Yunsung, you don't have a choice." The older man told him.

Talim glided into the fighting stadium, and walked up to the young man named Yunsung.

"May the best fighter win." She told him as she bowed, Yunsung snorted and replied without bowing.

"I will."

Talim walked to the other side of the stadium.

This stadium had red tile floor and was surrounded with water as the bridge that had led Talim into it disappeared back to the other side. There were seats for people to watch others fight, and it was filling up at the site of a young man battling with someone that didn't look like they had the muscle to cut down a tree.

"Alright, you can use any type of skill that you have. Go!" The man next to Link said.

Talim did just the same as she had with Link, she charged strait to Yunsung. Laughter spread through the audience as more people gathered to watch.

Yunsung also went strait at Talim with his sword pointed strait at the middle of her cleavage.

Talim took her Elbow Blades and knocked down Yunsung's weapon. Yunsung lost his balance and Talim kicked him in the stomach. Making him go backwards instead of forward.

He recovered quickly as he went backwards, and sprang back to his feet.

Talim went to the side and before Yunsung could block she started slashing at him like a tornado. Then after she slashed in three circles she took her left Elbow Blade and smacked the handle of it into Yunsung's chin.

Falling backwards, Talim leapt on top of his stomach and knocked his weapon out of his hands. Pointing both of her blades at his neck she told him this.

"You shouldn't have underestimated me. That's just what my friend did and I won."

Yunsung stared at Talim harshly in the eyes, but Talim simply smiled.

"The winner is...!" The man next to Link looked at Link and asked him softly: "What's her name boy?"

"Talim." Link replied in a quiet voice as well.

"The winner is Talim!" The man cried out, at first the audience stared for a moment. But then they erupted with claps and cheers as Talim got off of Yunsung's stomach and ran onto the bridge and rejoined with Link and the other man. The man smiled at Talim and nodded his head.

"Forgive me for underestimating you. You definitely have the skill to pass this place. In fact, why are you even here?"

"Well, me and this other young man," Talim said referring to Link. "Want to become partners in fighting but we don't know if we can trust each other. So I came up with the idea of training here to see if we can fight well and if we can trust each other."

"Good idea then, but I think that he can trust your fighting skills!"

Talim nodded and then smiled at Link. Link nodded, he really could trust in her fighting skills.

"So boy, what's your name?" The man asked.

"Uh, Link."

"Alright then, Link, Talim. My name is Edgar. I have a special interest in both of you, so I'll train Link in the morning and then at noon I'll switch to Talim. Deal?"

Both Link and Talim nodded, both happy that they could both get in.

Author's Note: Edgar does not look like Mitsurugi. Try and picture him differently if you can, please! You don't have to, because I know that I wouldn't be able to. I'm just trying to help make the story more original. Ok, back to the story!

The next morning, Link started his training. Or at least his test to prove to Talim that he could fight and that he could be trusted.

Edgar led Link to a place that looked like the one that Talim had battled in. Only this one wasn't surrounded by water and there weren't any seats for an audience. Talim sat on the edge, watching eagerly.

"Alright then, I'm guessing you already know all of the basics?" Edgar asked Link.

"Yes, I do."

"Well then I guess that we should just do some exercise then. Alright, ready?"

Nodding, Link got in a battle position and coped what Edgar did and showed him. Link did it with ease, and Edgar was obvious impressed. Even when Edgar was breathing heavily Link was barely sweating.

"You definitely don't need any training!" Edgar told Link at their mid break. Talim walked up with water, both Edgar and Link took it happily.

"You two train good!" Talim said with a large smile on her face.

"I'm sure that you will too." Link told her as he sat down on the grass.

"I agree." Edgar told Talim as well. Talim just smiled and then walked off without another word. "She fights well for someone her age and her height, I don't think that I've ever seen some her size want to fight."

"Well, that's what I thought when I first met her as well. And I wasn't even able to land on hit on her because I underestimated her so much."

"True, I agree."

Link finished his water and stood back up.

"Well, should we start again?" Link asked Edgar.

"I suppose that we should." He replied.

An hour after noon, Talim came right after Link and Edgar had finished the training. Edgar nodded and waved Talim over.

"I'm guessing that you already know how to do some exorcizes?" Edgar asked Talim, she nodded and started coping Edgar in what he did just as Link had.

After about an hour, Talim longed to start doing the exorsizes that she used to do in the fields by her village.

Or, by the home that she used to have.

Two hours went by, and then another. Finally Edgar called for mid-brake, and Talim sat down.

She wasn't tired, but it was getting irritating on how Edgar was doing so many exorisizes that did nothing to strengthen her.

"Neither of you need to do any training, but still I think that it is a good idea to learn and see about how you fight."

"Yes." Talim told him, she almost longed to have the weights....

"Something wrong? You don't look too good." Edgar told Talim.

"Oh, nothing is wrong at all." Talim lied.

"Hmm. Alright." Edgar replied to her in a doubtful voice.

Link came up with some water, and Talim and Edgar took it and started drinking it.

"Sorry, I'm not as well on timing as Talim is." Link said. Talim tried to smile but it failed and she just kept on drinking her water. Edgar gave her worried look but she pretended not to see it. Edgar sighed and looked at Link.

"Well, she's just as good as you are."

"Is she?" Link asked.

Edgar nodded, and suddenly a messenger popped up and gave Edgar a note.

"Hmm. Excuse me please, I need to go. I'll be back in a few minutes."

Edgar walked off, and Talim and Link watched after him. After he left Link looked at Talim.

"So, how was it?"

"Oh, it was fine." Talim replied with a large smile.

"You smiled a lot, you know that."

"I know."

Link looked at her weapons with wonder.

"What are those?"

"What are what?"

"Those things that you use to fight with."

"Oh, they're called Elbow Blades."

"They don't have a name besides that?"

"They do, Syi Sarika and Loka Loha."

"Those are interesting names." Link told her, she only smiled back and then finished the rest of her water.

"Thanks for the water." Link nodded and sat down next to Talim as a breeze blew by.

"You do fight well. You really beat that Yunsung guy."

"Well, I have a feeling that he would have been better if he hadn't underestimated me."

"Probably."

"Just like you." Talim told him, Link blushed and Talim giggled.

Edgar returned, and Talim immediately got up and picked up Syi Sarika and Loka Loha. Edgar nodded as Link also got up and walked to the end of the training ground. Now he should watch.

Talim mimicked what Edgar did, and again she felt that feeling to just start doing what she had used to do every morning to well after the after noon. But that was gone now, and she had to follow what her instructor was doing.

After doing the same time that Link had done before, Talim was able to go. Link walked beside her as Edgar went off to his room.

"You did pretty good." Link told her. Talim smiled back and laughed.

"You did well yourself, remember." She replied.

"Those Elbow Blades seem like something that aren't easy to use."

"Well, after using them all of your life you get used to them."

"Hmm.... I started using a sword when I was about seven or something."

"And when did you get that sword?" Talim asked as she glanced at the strange sword on his back.

"Oh, this one? I'm not sure." He replied as he touched the Master Sword.

"What's it called?"

"The Master Sword."

"Hmm. It must be an important weapon in your world."

"It is, I'm the only one who can use it."

"Really? Why's that?"

"Well, one time someone tried to take my sword. But the it grew too heavy for them to even lift it up."

"And who tried to steal it?"

"I'm not sure. When I came over they ran off before I could look at their face." Link thought about the time when he had been fighting Ganon, and a thought came into his mind. How had Zelda been able to throw him the sword then?

But she was his sister, and not to mention the Queen of Hyrule and the Sage of Time. And perhaps the Goddesses had given her the power at that moment; he didn't see why they wouldn't.

"Interesting, it must be a holy sword then! And what do those three triangles on it mean?"

"Um, they resemble something called the Triforce. The Triforce is something in world of immense power, and if in the wrong hands it could lead to destroy the whole world in just a moment."

"It must be powerful then." Talim said quietly. Link nodded and then glanced at Talim as the wind blew by.

"Why does the wind always blow when I'm around you? I don't get it. It's nice, but every time...."

Talim laughed as kept laughing even as she went into her room. Link looked at her, what had he said?

Shrugging, he walked off to his own room.

The next day, the same thing was done. And in the next day it was the same.

On the fourth day, both Talim and Link started wondering just how long they were going to stay there.

On the fifth day, something different finally happened. Edgar asked for both Link and Talim to come to the training area at the same time. When they arrived, Link was the first to ask the question.

"So, what's going to be different?"

"Follow me." Edgar replied in a stiff voice.

Talim and Link exchanged glances and started to follow Edgar.

They came to a strange room that was filled with candles. A priest stood at the end of the room, in front of an alter.

"Hello, welcome Talim and Link." The priest said. Edgar signaled for them to go forward and then he left the room. Walking forward, Link and Talim wondered the same thing.

"You're wondering why you're here. Well, Edgar told me that you two wanted to become fighting partners but didn't know that if you could trust each other. I can help you solve your problem. Come here, both of you."

They both obeyed, and the man told them to hold hands.

They did it awkwardly, but they did it. Link found that Talim's hands were pleasantly cool. And Talim thought the same about Link.

"Alright, now don't fidget." The priest told them sternly as if they were only five. But both Link and Talim obeyed as the priest started throwing something around them that looked like ashes.

And then without warning, their vision spun for a moment.

Link's vision cleared, and he found that he was in a field of grass that reminded him of the place where he had first met Talim. He looked around, but all that he could see was the grass.

But there was the Wind, and it didn't feel like the normal Wind. In this Wind, Link could feel it's calmness and it's wisdom. And yet, he could feel the power that it had. That if it chose to it could rip a house off its foundation.

Suddenly, he could see someone off in the distance... who was it?

Talim looked and realized that she was in a Temple. Not the one that she had been in with Link, but a Temple of pure white marble. She could hear the sound of a strange instrument, playing a tune.

She could feel the power of the Temple; it felt like the power of Time itself.

Looking down she saw that she stood on top of a large decorated yet short platform. She looked back up and then behind her and saw an alter with three jewels on it. Each different colors but each with gold curving around each. She walked over, her footsteps echoing through the Temple. She stepped up to the alter, and looked at the stones with interest.

Something caught her eye, and she looked up and saw the same sword that Link always carried on his back. Hadn't he called it the Master Sword?

She stepped around the alter and walked up slowly to the sword.

Link looked at the figure and realized, that it was Talim.

He called out to her, but she didn't answer. Link ran towards her, but even when he was right next to her she didn't notice him.

Gently he touched her shoulder, and then his vision blurred again.

Talim gently took the hilt, and her vision blurred.

Together, they plummeted into each other hearts for just a moment, and then suddenly they were back in the strange room.

"Ah, I was wondering when the two of you were going to get out of that trance." The priest greeted them with two jugs of water. Talim and Link let their hands go and drank, surprised how thirsty they both were. "You've been like this for twelve hours."

Both Link and Talim choked.

"What?" Link asked with pure shock.

"Yes, twelve hours." The priest replied as if it was nothing.

Talim looked at Link, and Link looked at her.

"Alright then," the priest told them. "Hurry and meet back with Edgar, he isn't always a patient man as I am."

Link and Talim scuttled out of the strange room, and Edgar met them just as they came out.

"Hello, how was?" he asked them.

"Strange and weird." Link replied. Edgar laughed and started walking. Link and Talim followed as well.

"Well, I hope that you two trust each other completely now."

Link and Talim looked at each other, it was true. They _did_ trust each other more then they thought that they ever would.

"What happened is the both of you experienced a part of each other's minds. And then you looked in their heart or something. I'm not sure what those priests do. But it's something like that."

Talim and Link turned away and kept on walking.

"I feel... tired. I think that I'm going to skip dinner tonight." Talim said.

"I agree." Link also told Edgar.

"Alright, you two. But don't sleep in too long, because tomorrow is going to be the day that you two prove that you have obtained the skills to pass the final test."

"Really?" They said together.

"Yes, since you already knew how to fight I don't need to train at all. So, tomorrow you do the final test. Which is going against an opponent and winning."

Talim yawned and then smiled.

"I can't wait for tomorrow then!" she cried out happily.

All right, this chapter might have been a little corny... but I didn't know what else to do! I hope that I didn't screw up on it....

So Until Next Time,

CrypticElf....


	3. A Rival Made

OK, sorry about the mega delay on this chapter! My computer.... Uh... my mom had to restart it because we had FIFTY-FIVE VIRISS! How can a computer have that many you may ask? I HAVE NO FREAKIN IDEA! So, the ALL of the data on my fanfictions were COMPLETELY DELETED... I was almost finished with this chapter! I can't believe it. Oh well, let's get going!

I own nothing of Soul Calibur II and never will, but the script is mine and if you take it I get to sue you AND GET A BETTER COMPUTER THAT HAS A FIRE WALL!!

**Chapter Three: A Rival Made**

Talim sat down on the floor of her room, next to her small bed. It was small, but big enough for Talim to stretch just a little.

She looked out her window, listening to the bits of news that the Wind was telling her. Or, more appropriate pieces of what it was carrying.

She was listening without speaking, almost as if in a trance.

"But she said...."

"I can't believe that that brat actually...."

"How dare you say that you love me when I saw you last night with...."

Talim giggled when she heard that, and then she continued to listen until she found something interesting.

"Train harder! Are you little girls wearing pink fluffy dresses or...."

Talim smiled, she knew that voice it was Edgar! She kept on smiling and then kept on listening for other things.

"Well he said that I had the brain of a bird, I said...."

"Let's eat something that...."

"I didn't get a great sleep last...."

"Damn it my noodles burned! I knew that I shouldn't have just left them by...."

"Pick that up! I demand...."

"Quiet it down do you want...."

Talim stopped listening and stood up, looking around her room. She had been in here for about a week, and tomorrow she would leave.

Well, if she passed.... But she had no doubt in her mind that she would, but than again she always tried to prepare herself for the worst.

She looked at the white walls, her little table that was for food, and her peach colored carpet. She only had one window, and she cherished it. For it let the Wind pass through, Talim hated it when she couldn't feel the gentle fingers of the Wind.

Talim looked back out the window, it was right beside her bed at the end of the room. She wanted to see how a certain someone was doing.

The Wind blew rapidly for a second, then it died down and the Wind started speaking to Talim.

_'Kalana is morning for you. And no matter how much I try to comfort her she still grows sadder each day. She is getting ill, young Talim. She worries for you.'_

Talim swallowed the large lump in her throat. Her Grandmother, the one out of two who really cared. Even so, she still wanted to see how her whole tribe was doing.

_'Yes, even the tribe is sad, although they try to hide it. Lidi is also starting to grow sadder by the day, although not ill. Sanput is telling her that there is nothing to worry about at all and that she is being foolish. Alun has been set free as you know, and is now making his journey to you. I have tried to ask him to stop as you wished, but continues to travel.'_

Talim listened to this quietly and felt a tiny tear trickle down her face. She didn't try to wipe it away; she just let it fall peacefully.

"Thank you, Wind."

_'My pleasure is to give you comfort, young Talim.'_

Talim nodded and then wiped away the tear just as it was about to get to the bottom of her face. She had to be strong. For her tribe. For the Wind. And even though she had jut met him about two weeks ago, she had to be strong for Link.

She smiled to and said this to herself:

"Calm down Talim... Ok."

Satisfied that she could go out without any negative thoughts, she checked to make sure that Syi Sarika and Luka Loha were on the table and then left the room.

She went outside and found that Link had been waiting for her. He blinked at her and then smiled.

"Morning Talim." He told her as they started walking together to get something to eat.

"Greetings Link, have a good sleep?"

"You bet; I'm ready for the last test!"

"Oh, it took me three hours to get to bed. I was too excited."

Link laughed just as they rounded the corner, he was always used to sleeping when big days were ahead so after a while he just slept right when his eyes closed. It was an odd habit, but a useful one.

"I wonder who I'll fight?" Asked Talim ponderously, Link thought for a moment and wondered whom he was going to fight.

"Who knows? What would happen if you got that guy again?"

"What guy?"

"You know, that guy with the hair that looked like it was real fire."

Talim elbowed Link in the ribs at his joke and then nodded.

"Oh, him. That would be weird if I got Yunsung again."

"How did you remember his name?"

Talim winked just as a glimmer of mischief passed through her eyes.

"I have my ways."

Link looked at her for a moment and then looked forward again, they were at the food court.

Talim walked in ahead of Link and got food and found a comfortable spot where she and Link could eat alone.

Talim looked around the room, and as usual she was one of the only females there. Fact was; there had to be about three hundred males in here and only about twenty females. Woman normally didn't like to fight, and it almost made Talim cringe when she saw woman sitting on their butts fanning themselves while flirting with men. The things that they were missing, why couldn't woman understand that there was more to life then just sitting around? Just gardening would be better, Talim could sympathize with those who were crippled, but those who could get up and move didn't do anything! Talim sighed and looked back up as Link walked up to her and sat down.

"Something wrong Talim?"

Talim did her small smile and then took a quick drink of her water.

"I simply wish that woman would do more."

"More?"

Talim nodded and started eating her food, feeling uncomfortable without the Wind blowing through. Link thought for moment and then spoke again.

"Where I come from, woman work hard... although not many pick the path of a warrior they still work hard to keep things together. My sister works hard to make sure that everyone stays safe...." He felt his mind wonder for a moment as Zelda's smiling face popped into his head. It soon dissolved unto nothingness, and a messenger appeared by the table.

"This message will tell you two which opponents you will be against. Names please?"

"Link."

"Talim."

He nodded and started rustling through the bag and soon pulled out two small pieces of paper and handed one to Link and the other to Talim.

"Good day, hope that you pass."

He ran off to another table, obviously handing out the same thing that he just gave Talim and Link.

Talim opened her small paper and read it as a smile spread across her face like a sunrise.

"I'm fighting Yunsung!"

Link had barely opened his paper when he jumped up and stared at Talim.

"Are you serious?"

Talim nodded and put her paper down and started wolfing down her food faster then Link ever could. She finished before he even knew it and stood up with her tray in hand.

"I'm going to get ready! See you later!"

And before he could do anything she ran off and put her tray away and then dashed out of the food court with others staring at her.

Link looked at her for a moment and then looked down at his paper. He was fighting a male named Talison. A wry smile crossed his face; the first three letters T-A-L-I were just like Talim.

Talim raced to her room and nearly ran into the door but stopped herself just in time. She laughed quietly to herself and then opened the door. Her smile immediately disappeared when she saw that Syi Sarika and Luka Loha weren't where she had left them.

She closed the door and then turned around, and already knew who would be there.

"Is there something that you require Yunsung?"

He smirked as he held her Elbow Blades in one hand and laughed.

"Nope, not really."

"Then would you please give me back my Elbow Blades?"

"So is that what there called?" Yunsung lifted them up as he leaned coolly on the wall.

"Please give me back Syi Sarika and Luka Loha." Talim asked again.

"So they aren't just called 'Elbow Blades'?" He laughed and smiled at Talim again. "Funny names."

Talim sighed and looked back at him again.

"Does it matter what they are called? I'm sure that your weapon has a name as well."

"Yep. It does. White Storm."

"Hmm."

"By the way, who is it that you talk to when your by yourself in here?" he shifted on the wall and crossed his arms over his chest. "I never hear anyone answer you, do you like to talk to yourself?"

"That's none off your concern." Talim replied seriously. "Give me my weapons back."

"But I want to know who you talk to!" he told her with a fake innocence.

"I pray."

Yunsung stared at her for a moment, and then he nodded.

"If you're going to pray then go to the Temple."

Talim sighed in comfort for a moment, but held it.

She did her best to try and keep her power of the Wind away from others ears. The first time some man asked her who she had been talking to and she had told him the Wind she had been chased for three weeks because he had thought that she was crazy and needed to be locked up as she sang little nothings to herself. She had hardly been able to sleep and get anything to eat, and finally she went to the Wind to create a large Windstorm to stop from being chased. They would have certainly caught her soon if it hadn't been for the Wind.

"Now that you know what you want, would you give me my weapons?"

Yunsung smiled and just kept on holding the Elbow Blades.

"Any other question?"

"I'm fighting you."

"I know that. Use your fists, unless you don't know how."

"I do."

"Ha...."

"Something funny?" Talim asked.

"You."

Talim studied him for a moment, and then spoke.

"Do you have another question? Or will you chose to give me what I want?"

"Another question... and why do we need to talk about that? How about something else? It isn't interesting."

"Your spinning." Talim told him as keenly as a knife.

"Spinning?" Yunsung asked in an amused tone.

"Spinning. You're avoiding my question, almost as if you're a little toddler running away from their mother to avoid being punished."

"You were spinning."

"I was, but at least I finally said something about it."

Yunsung apparently didn't like her come back because he threw Talim's Elbow Blades strait at her with an angry look on his face. Talim dodged them and the Elbow Blades went into the wall like a pair of nails. He walked out and closed the door quietly as Talim looked at her Elbow Blades.

He knew that she would dodge them, but Talim still didn't like the fact that he had thrown them at her.

Talim grabbed the handle of one of her Elbow Blades and pulled, the blade being stuck firmly into the wall it took a while before it came out. It took a while to get the other one out as well, but eventually it did. Sighing, Talim looked at her blades, and felt anger boil up like a steaming pot.

The edges were dulled; she wouldn't be able to scratch Yunsung at all with these! Sure the impact of the Elbow Blades hitting the wall and the slim shape had caused them to go through, but it was not because of their edge. She had sharpened them, and she knew this well. And she also knew quiet well who had dulled the edges, the one person that had just been in the room with her.

Taking in a deep breath of air, Talim did her best to calm her and to settle down. It didn't work that well, but at least she wasn't as angry as before.

Talim turned around and searched for her Wind Guides, she found them soon, and found that the tips were just as they had been before.

But they weren't meant to be sharp, they were meant to dance with! Talim wouldn't be able to sharpen Syi Sarika and Luka Loha in enough time, and these were her only options. The Wind Guides would be able to scratch Yunsung, not that well though. And how would she keep balance? True she had danced with them all of her life, but that was _dancing, _not battling! It would so difficult... but she would win, she had too! Or else she wouldn't be able to go with Link! She had to do this, she absolutely had to.

Seeing no other choice, Talim grabbed them and stood up with her face facing the window.

She would do this; she couldn't fail.

Taking in a last deep breath of air, Talim exited her room with two deep marks left in the wall that would make the maids stare when they came to tidy up her room if Talim had missed anything, which was never.

--------------

Link was waiting for Talim at the arena, he waved hello to her and she did the same. Although she seemed a little steamed, something Link had never seen Talim do before.

"Something wrong?" Link asked as they looked at the fighters fighting in the middle.

Talim sighed and lifted up her Elbow Blades, but instead of them being designed with light brown marks they were blue, with the tips thicker then most of the weapon. Those were the Elbow Blades that Talim had danced with the first night Link had met her.

"Hey aren't those..." Link was about to say, 'those things that you danced with that night...' but stopped himself just in time.

"I know," Talim replied. "You were going to say, 'Hey aren't those different weapons?'"

Link was surprised that Talim had thought that she had thought that he was going to say that, but that thought soon disappeared when he realized that they the tips were duller those of Syi Sarika and Luka Loha.

"But those aren't as efficient! You're other Elbow Blades are way sharper!" Link pointed at them, Talim sighed and nodded. Then she shook her head and then forced a smile upon her face.

"I need to be positive, if I'm going to be negative then I won't be able to concentrate in battle." Talim did a big laugh, and instantly everyone started looking at her. The battle that had been going on in the ring had just ended, so now all of the attention had been focused upon Talim. She kept on laughing, and by now Link had begun to want to start edging away but kept himself from doing so. After all, Talim wouldn't have edged away from him.

Talim stopped laughing, and opened her eyes and saw that everyone was looking at her. And instead of hiding behind Link, she smiled at them and said,

"Hello."

Everyone turned away and started talking, just as the announcer yelled,

"NEXT BATTLE!" looking at a piece of paper he read the two names on it. "LINK AND TALISON!"

Link laughed and then looked at Talim.

"Well, I guess that I better get going." He told her.

"Good luck Link!" Talim called after him as he went down to the ring that was the same one that Link had first seen when Talim and Yunsung had battled on it. The young man Talison was waiting there for him, he had a tanned face, light brown hair and dark brown eyes. He just wore puffy pant, along with a sword. He didn't offer Link any greeting, he just stared at him, and Link could tell that he was determined to win.

Link was going to hate to beat this guy, it really seemed to be ready to win... but he was an opponent, and Link needed to win.

"FIGHTERS READY? FIGHT!"

The young man started circling Link, and Link just stayed in a defense position. Link could already see a few places where he could hit the man and the battle be over, but he didn't want to have the battle be over so soon.... And it would hurt than young man's ego, something important that every warrior should have a little of. But if he had too much, it could lead up to major trouble. He did seem too cocky, the way that he was looking at Link. So maybe he should just....

Link moved aside just before the young mans blade was about to crash down onto his side. It was a close move, and Link decided that the battle should end before this guy got too cocky and Link really did some damage to his pride.

Link moved forward quickly, this obviously surprised his opponent because he made plenty of open spaces for Link to make one swing of his sword and boom; instant death.

Link swung his sword and hit the young man with the head with the blunt side of his sword, knocking him out.

Everyone held his or her breath, waiting to see if the lad on the ground would get up or if he would stay.

"ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR, FIVE, SIX, SEVEN, EIGHT, NINE... TEN! THE WINNER IS...." Again, the person paused to remember what the winners name was. "LINK!"

Link sighed and raised his sword up as everyone cheered and thought about how quickly he had taken out that other young man. They stood up and clapped wildly for the person who had taken the other out with one blow.

Link walked out of arena and back to Talim who smiled and clapped.

"You won Link! Congratulations!"

"Thanks Talim." Link told her. "But he really wasn't that hard, had a big ego thing going."

"Just like Yunsung." Talim laughed and hugged Link.

He was surprised by the physical contact, but at the same time he found that he _liked_ being hugged by someone... the last person that he had hugged had been Zelda, who had waved good-bye to him just before he had gone through the portal to this world in the Temple of Time. A memory went through his head swiftly of Zelda....

_"Link!" Zelda cried as Link held her in his arms, Link did his best to comfort her, but how could he when he was uneasy himself? "I wish that didn't you have to go, I wish that I hadn't been the one to tell you to leave! What will I do when you leave? You're my only family left!"_

_Zelda wept harder, and Link held her closer._

_"Zelda, I wish that I could tell you that I would come back... but...."_

_Zelda pulled away from Link and wiped away the tears that had gone down her face. The top of her dress was completely wet with her tears._

_"I must be strong," she told Link as she stood in front of him with her chin held high. "I must be strong for Hyrule, I cannot let myself be weak. I must protect it now.... I must not cry. I need to be strong, for me, for this country. You're the one that's leaving, and I'm the one that crying...."_

_She took in a deep breath, and then smiled at Link._

_"I give you this as my token of love. Keep this with you always, and as you play it, I hope that you think of me, and everyone of Hyrule, and of Hyrule itself."_

_She pulled something out from behind her back, and Link recognized it as the Ocarina of Time, Link had given it back to her...._

_"Zelda, I can't!" Link protested as she held it out to him. She shook her head and took his arm and placed the Ocarina in his hand._

_"Yes you will, as the _Queen_ of Hyrule I command you to take it with you! Now go, Link, the Hero of Time. And most of all, my brother."_

_Link smiled at Zelda, and embraced her one more time. Then, letting her go he turned around._

_ A light came out of the windows, and suddenly a portal of black appeared in the center of the Temple of Time. Link took in a deep breath of air, and then, he walked through the portal._

_Behind him, he could hear Zelda's sweet voice calling out after him._

_"Link! I love you! I will never forget...."_

_And he heard Zelda's voice no more._

"Link? Are you alright?"

Link looked at Talim, who had apparently stopped hugging him and was standing in front of him with a concerned look on her face.

"Link, are you alright?" she asked him again more franticly.

After she had hugged Link and stepped, she had seen tears collecting in his eyes... and she was worried, that she had done something wrong. She didn't want to cause him pain she hated causing anyone pain. And she had caused people that she loved pain, and she felt horrible for that.

"I-I'm fine Talim." Link finally stuttered out, Talim smiled and then pointed to the ring hoping to change the subject.

"The next fight has started, I forgot their names unfortunately."

"It's alright, I would have forgot too." Link replied, Talim smiled and then nodded.

A couple of fights went by, each one more boring then the other. It was entertaining to the crowd, but both Link and Talim had seen better things then what they were seeing now, especially Link. It seemed that both of them were going to fall asleep when someone was shaking Talim. Looking up, Talim saw that it was her turn to go into the ring.

"Oh, thank you!" Talim told the man and then trotted off to the ring, which is after poking Link awake.

Talim went calmly down to the ring, her opponent waiting for her.

Yunsung smiled at her, although it wasn't in a friendly way.

"I hope that this fight will turn out well." Talim told Yunsung as she did a small stretch, although it looked more like she was a rubber band to the people watching her.

"I'm not going to lose to fools like you." He simply told her, Talim smiled and laughed instead of getting angry, which surprised Yunsung.

"FIGHTERS READY? FIGHT!"

Both Talim and Yunsung sprung into action, both searching for opening by habit.

Talim went forward, hoping that she wouldn't lose balance with the move that she was about to do.

She lunged forward with her Elbow Blades on both sides, and as Yunsung saw this he prepared to use his sword to hit Talim's neck, not to kill her but to make her unconscious.

Yunsung flexed his muscles in his arm, a signal that Talim recognized. He swung his sword to the left, and Talim used her left Elbow Blade, and knock his sword out of the way. He didn't stumble back, but that wasn't what Talim had wanted him to do anyway. Instead, she grabbed his left arm and then lifted her foot up to his knees that was slightly bending forward and then lifted her other foot to his collarbone. Stepping on it, she kept a firm hand on Yunsung's arm and then climbed up on his shoulder. Still holding his arm, this time with both hands, she used both feet and put them on his back and pulled while pushing as hard as she could on his back.

Everyone gasped and Yunsung screamed in pain as Talim dislocated his shoulder. And to add more pain, she smashed her elbow into his shoulder socket and then jumped off of Yunsung.

"Damn it!" Yunsung screamed at her with pure anger within his voice. He grabbed White Storm from the ground, but he would have been better if he hadn't.

Talim ran forward and her knee flew strait into his rib cage.

Yunsung gritted his teeth, but as he fell down he grabbed White Storm and rolled back up. His left arm was hanging down farther then it was supposed to, but that was to be expected.

Talim kept her feet moving, her feet tapping the ground every moment. It was part of her fighting skills, to always keep the body moving.

"Wind," Talim whispered under her breath. "Guide me."

Talim felt the Wind stir around her, nothing else moved at all, not even the flags or the others watching moved. Only Talim's hair and clothes moved as the Wind gently flew around her. Feeling the Wind with her, Talim felt more energy then she had before. Then, charging forward, she made a swing into Yunsung's stomach with both blades. And even though the Wind Guides had barely any edge at all, her weapons cut through strait his flesh, creating a deep wound.

"YUNSUNG HAS BEEN WOUNDED IN THE STOMACH! MATCH OVER! THE WINNER IS..." he paused and looked down to what the name of the person was. "TALIM!"

Talim laughed and smiled as applause spread through the crowd, and everyone stood up out of their seats and cheered Talim's name.

"Good match." Talim told Yunsung as he sat on the ground holding his stomach. He only grunted and watched her leave with a frown.

How the hell had that midget won? How tall was she? And how did that freak wind come up all of the sudden? But what did that have to do with anything? Nothing.

"I won Link! I am victorious!" Talim ran up to Link and Link smiled and laughed. She hugged him again, this time faster then the other time.

"You won, how did you get on his shoulders like that?" Link asked, Talim shrugged.

"It is an advantage of my weight and how tall I am. If I weighed too much, then Yunsung would have fallen under the pressure of my weight and the move wouldn't have worked. And if I was too tall then it would have effected my weight."

Link nodded, thinking all of this over. Whoever had trained Talim, they had trained her well. But maybe she learned by herself, just as he had.

Edgar walked up to the two champions in the garden, grinning.

"That was terrific work you two did!" He told them with a grin.

The two of them smiled, the battle had been two hours ago and nearly everyone that they had seen had asked how they had fought so well.

"I'm guessing that the two of you are going to Thuban?" Edgar asked.

"Thuban? Is that the next area?" Talim asked, Edgar nodded but then he frowned.

"You two really don't know where you're going do you? You must be from far away, then. Well, I had a feeling because of your weapons, fighting style, and mainly clothes."

Both Link and Talim glanced at their clothes.

"So I got you a map."

He pulled it out of a pocket and handed it to Link, who opened it up.

"This is a fully detailed map!" Talim cried. "How much did this cost?"

"Never mind about the cost, just use it well. I'll be there to send the two of you off tomorrow. Get ready for it!"

Edgar left his two pupils, or was he their pupil? He had learned much from both of them; he would never forget either of them. And he hoped that they never forgot him.

Talim and Link smiled at each other, both of the same things going through their heads.

Their journey had truly begun, and not a second too late.

OK! There was the chapter people! I hope that you liked it!

Oh, and a special thanks the one who gave the information that I need! I won't say your name, because some people prefer their privacy, but thank you and I'm SURE that you know who you are!

One more thing, if anyone is interested in having an e-mail friend, then please look at my Bio for more info! I want some e-mail friends, but don't be older then **sixteen** please! I already have two older friends; I would prefer to simply keep that number. My e-mail address is on my Bio if you look at the little I want a friend add.

So Until Next Time,

CrypticElf....


	4. The Secret Is Told

Hello, here's the next chapter of Emerald Wind!

Talim: Oh, I can't wait to see what happens!

I'm sure that neither can my readers! Let's get going with it, Link, you say the disclaimer!

Link: Uh... Ok, CrypticElf owns nothing of Soul Calibur II and never will.

Chapter Four: The Secret Is Told 

Talim and Link began walking out of the back gates of Regulus, Edgar watching after them.

"I wish you two good luck! You better come back to see me again one day!" Edgar waved good-bye and Talim laughed.

"We will Edgar! Someday something will bring us back here!" Talim yelled back, then she stopped and noticed that Yunsung was standing right behind Edgar. Edgar, seeing her looking turned around and saw him as well.

"Yunsung, off to see them off?" Edgar asked him.

"I guess that you could say that." He replied.

By now Link had turned around as well, looking at Yunsung who had bandages wrapped around his stomach. His shoulder was black and blue from the bruise Talim had given him when she had slammed her elbow into his shoulder after dislocating it.

"Hey Talim," Yunsung said. "I'll meet you again, mark my words. And we will battle, and I won't be beat next time either!"

With that said he turned around and headed back, Talim smiled and grinned.

"I will prepare for that battle Yunsung! You mark my words!" Talim yelled back at him as she turned around with Link.

Edgar laughed and then waved good-bye, and he watched them leave until he could see them no longer.

The sun had barely come up, both Talim and Link insisting on an early leave. Edgar had gone with them until the gate, and after that he followed no more.

Sighing, he turned around and walked back. He knew in his bones that they would do something that would change to world, something good of course. They had skill, lots of it. More then he did, and they had experienced more then he had, even though he was older then the both of them things had happened to each that made them true warriors.

"I'm getting old," he told himself. "At least those two are making feel old. But I won't stop fighting, because fighting is all that I have left."

Talim and Link walked over the endless fields of grass. Link felt his Ocarina, or Zelda's Ocarina in his pack. He felt it's odd egg shaped curve against his back; it brought him comfort.

"Oh Link," Talim asked. "Isn't it a nice day to be traveling?"

"Yep, it sure is."

Clouds went about the sky, offering shade from the sun when needed. It was a pleasant day, and of course as always the Wind blew by, making it even cooler, which was needed against the sun.

"I just don't get why the wind is always blowing when I'm with you!" Link exclaimed after a few minutes passed. Talim frowned, and when Link saw this he felt confusion bubble inside. "Is there something wrong Talim?" He asked.

Talim's frown deepened, she felt that she could trust him but what if he thought that she was crazy? She didn't want him to leave her, but how would he feel if she told him after they had known each other after days, weeks, or even months passed? That would hurt him more then him thinking that she was crazy, wouldn't it?

"I guess that I should tell you." Talim finally told him after a while; Link raised his eyebrow and stopped walking.

"If it's something that's important, then let's take a break. After all it has been about six hours since we left Regulas, and another thing is that it's lunch."

Talim nodded and Link sat down where he stood and Talim sat down hesitantly. Sitting down, Link looked at Talim.

"What is it that you want to tell me Talim?"

"It's... better to show then to tell." Talim decided after a moment. Link nodded and waited.

Talim shifted herself into a more comfortable position and then closed her eyes.

_'Wind, I ask of you to follow my hands.' _

_'You need not to ask young Talim.'_ The Wind replied sweetly.

Opening her eyes again, Talim bit her lip hoping that Link wouldn't think of her as a witch that needed to burn on a stake.

She stretched her hand forward and pointed to the ground and started spinning her finger. The Wind followed and started creating a mini tornado under Talim's finger, at first you couldn't see it at all but eventually it started collecting and little pieces of loose dirt. Link stared, his eyes wide.

Talim kept spinning her finger but lifted it up making the tiny tornado grow longer and taller. Then, she pointed forward and her little creation followed her finger and started moving away and then went around in circles. Then, clapping her hands then mini tornado let all of its grass and dirt go and then disappeared.

"I can control and talk with the Wind." Talim told Link simply, she didn't bother to look at him. Fearing that she wouldn't see the expression that she wanted to see. But Link put his hand on her shoulder, making her turn around.

"So is that why the wind is always blowing when I'm around you?"

Talim nodded, and was shocked when she saw Link smiling.

"Did you think that I would think of you as a freak? I wouldn't, and besides if I did tell you that you're a freak then I'd be one to talk."

"You aren't a freak." Talim told him, Link laughed and took his hand off of her shoulder.

"I don't think that you're a freak either... and even though I've never met anyone who can control the Wind in know a lot of people that can do odd things, even I used to be able to do odd things, like teleporting or creating fire. But that was lost when I came here, I guess that there isn't any source for my powers to feed onto."

"It isn't that," Talim told him. "You're talking about magic, aren't you?"

"I guess if you wanted it nice and flatly said, then yes it is magic." Link replied.

"Magic, you can't use it because of Soul Edge's power, it sucks in whatever power it can gain. So any magic that may exist here has been sucked in and used for more power by Soul Edge."

Link frowned and sighed, but at least now he knew why he couldn't feel any of his magic. It wasn't much at all, but he had enough just to use a few spells that had helped him greatly in his journey to defeat Ganondorf.

"Let's eat, Link."

Talim took off her pack and pulled bread, cheese, and some water. She passed Link some and then started eating her own portion. Link ate some of his bread with cheese on top of it, and then felt a small question stinging him.

"Talim, how do you control the wind?" he asked as she drank some of her water.

"Well, I think that they way that I can talk to the Wind is because of the meditation that I did ever since I was young. Then I pray to it, and I can talk to it in both my mind and out loud. I prefer out loud, but obviously that catches attention quickly and people start thinking odd thoughts... but anyway, the Wind always blows around me because it gives me comfort. It can tell me what others are saying, the range is about two miles."

Link nodded quietly as he finished the rest of his food.

"That has to be useful!"

"It is." Talim smiled and then ate her food quietly.

After Talim finished they put whatever they had out into their packs and then stood up. Talim looked to the sky, thinking.

_'Wind, how is Alun?'_ Talim asked in her mind. _'And where is he?'_

_'Alun is well. He is still far away. I used my power to let him glide against me, I am sorry if that displeases you.'_

_'No, and in fact I thank you for the faster that he comes the better.'_

"Ready Talim?" Link asked, Talim faced him and nodded with a smile.

They traveled together, happy to be out again instead of doing some useless training that they didn't need at all. The Wind blew freely around them, the clouds shading them against the sun.

Talim would occasionally search the sky for Alun, knowing well that he wouldn't be with her today. But she did it anyway, hoping to see a speck of him against the sky.

Night was coming, and so the two of them set their camp. Again, Talim said that they didn't need a fire so there was none.

They slept, and in the morning when Link woke up he saw Talim awake before he.

"Morning Link!" Talim told him as he sat up and stretched.

"Morning..." he replied sleepily as he rubbed an eye and then stretched.

"Here, we should get on a fast start." Talim handed him a piece of bread and cheese along with water. Link ate it as fast as he could, although he was still half-asleep.

After eating more then half of his breakfast, he took a drink of his water and then took off his gauntlets. He put some water in his palms and then wiped water on his face. A blast of wind came out of nowhere directly at his face, falling back the water on his face seemed to freeze doing a very good job of waking himself up. He sat back up immediately as Talim burst into laughter.

"Your face!" She pointed and laughed as she slapped her knee.

"You did that didn't you?" Link asked.

Talim nodded and then looked at Link with shinning eyes.

"Yes, you seem to need to get a little breeze to wake you up!"

"Little breeze? I fell backwards!"

Talim burst into laughter again and Link frowned and bitterly ate the rest of his breakfast. Boosting, he told this to Talim:

"Where I come from, no one would dare to laugh at the Hero of Time!"

Talim stopped laughing and looked at Link with curious eyes.

"Hero of Time? Is that what you're called?"

Link nodded and Talim tilted her head.

"Hero of Time! What a wonderful name!" Talim exclaimed as she laughed and then looked at the sky.

"You have a name like mine?" Link asked, she looked at Link and nodded. "What is it?"

Talim hesitated for a moment but then she finally spoke.

"Wind Priestess."

"'Wind Priestess'? Interesting! Where'd you get that from?"

"My tribe. I was supposed to be the last Shaman of my tribe, but I left."

"You left? For Soul Edge?"

"Yes."

"So why can't you be a Shaman for them any longer?"

"I was shunned." She told him with a sigh.

Link stared for a moment and then got out of his blanket.

"Shunned? For wanting to destroy Soul Edge?"

"The piece that came to my village by a merchant, many merchants come by during the summer. He brought a piece of Soul Edge, calling it something that was holy and would bring prosperity to my village. They bought it, and it was praised and cherished as if it were more important then the Wind itself!

"People started wanting it for themselves, and started to try and steal it. That was stopped of course... but then when others came to cherish it they started getting violent, something that has never happened before."

Talim shook her head as her eyes slightly watered.

"Even my own father and mother started fighting over it, they cursed and screamed at each other, and even they started getting violent as well. My grandmother, she was a village elder, even sought the piece for herself. So finally, I took it and hid it.

"But that didn't stop people, in fact it made it worse. The village was almost destroyed until it was found where I had hid it."

Talim shook her head and continued, the memory of it going through her head at the same time.

_"Talim! Are you telling everyone of this village that you took the treasure and hid it?" her father roared as everyone in the village watched as their apprentice Shaman stood before her father with her head bowed._

_"I did." She told him strongly as she lifted her head. "It was destroying us! Since when has something that a simple merchant has brought been more important?"_

_"Since now! The Wind is something of the past! This is our future!" he waved the piece of metal in front of Talim's face. She did not flinch._

_"Future? What is wrong with you father?"_

_"What is wrong with you? You have the perfect potential to become the next Shaman! Do not throw all of this away for the sake of the Wind!"_

_Talim shook her head stubbornly and looked at her father in the eyes._

_"You are _not_ my father."_

_Sanput stepped back, glaring at her._

_"How dare you say that to me?" He hissed. "You are no daughter of mine!"_

_Talim's mother, Lidi, walked up to Sanput._

_"Not a daughter?" she asked. "She is of your own flesh and blood! How dare you?"_

_She turned to Talim._

_"And how dare you, Talim? You can't think that this treasure will not bring us to shine above the eyes of those not worthy!"_

_Talim stepped back, frightened._

_Lidi walked back behind Sanput, her words done for that moment._

_"Talim," her father said sternly as he raised the piece of disgusting metal towards her. "You must swear that you shall worship it."_

_"I will never worship it. My will stays with the Wind."_

_He shook his head and gave her a disgusted look._

_"I shun you then, you are a traitor."_

_Talim's heart was crushed under those words, and tears started streaming down her face._

_"Shun!" Lidi and Kalana cried with pain and Sanput quieted them instantly._

_"Get out traitor!" he cried at her, Talim just stared at him, still shaken. "Out!"_

_He slapped across the face, and only Lidi and Kalana gasped and had pain in their eyes._

_"OUT!" _

_Talim looked up at him, her innocent eyes filled with grief, sorrow and pain. And if her father had been himself, he would have been shriveling. She stepped back, but then stepped forward and grabbed the piece of cursed metal from his fingers and then ran._

_Talim let her tears fly across her face as she ran, and as she passed her home she stopped herself and ran inside._

_She grabbed Syi Sarika and Luka Loha and anything else that she could. She briefly went to Alun's cage in pet his silky feathers on last time, she could not bring for if she were captured then they would kill him as well. She hoped that someone would find Alun here and take him to safety._

_Turning away, she took a back entrance that she had built in case of a fire. Once she was out she fled away from everything that she knew, nearly all that she loved, her family, and the only home that she ever had._

_She ran._

_And never looked back._

Talim's eyes watered and she shook her head and then smiled at Link.

"But that is of the past, now is now."

Link sniffled, not sure how Talim could smile after telling such a story.

"We need to get going Link, stop staring at me and put your blanket away."

Link looked at Talim for a moment more before he started putting his blanket away. It was the only thing that he had out, so it didn't take long before both of them were up and on their way once again.

**Authors Note: **Ok, there's the chapter for Emerald Wind! Now for any of you that are interested here's the story of how Alun was able to get out of his cage! Yes, that's it, look _down_!

Kalana walked slowly to Talim's old home; there was no one in the village except her and Lidi. Everyone else had run after Talim after she had taken the metal piece from Sanput's hands. Lidi followed slowly after her, weeping softly.

Together they arrived at Talim's old home, entering they saw that the others had already been there. Everything was broken, Talim's table, her pillows were ripped; everything in sight was not whole.

"I cannot believe that they did this." Lidi whispered as Kalana shook her head.

"Now that Talim has taken away that piece of metal, I can see clearly again. My vision is no longer being blinded by that curse metal. I am I again, I am me."

Kalana sighed, and then heard the small voice of a bird in pain. Looking around, she saw Alun standing on the floor.

"Oh! Alun!" cried Lidi as both she and Kalana rushed forward. Lidi bent down as Kalana looked on, her back had gotten weak many years ago.

Lidi let Alun hop on her hand; looking at him she realized that his wing was bleeding, and that it was also broken.

"Those monsters!" Lidi cried as she pet Alun's soft gray feathers. "They did enough damage destroying Talim's home, but to hurt a bird? He is so strong, a true falcon!"

"But against the sheer power of men, his bones are like twigs." Kalana said. "His bones are frail, meant for speed, not to defend against raging men and women who are driven by evil."

Lidi lifted Alun up, his eyes closed as she gently ran her fingers over his head.

"We shall heal him." Kalana stated. "Until he is healed, then we shall set him free."

And it was done so; Kalana took Alun into her care, along with Lidi who refused to share the same bed with the very man who had shunned her child. Lidi stayed with Kalana, helping with what she could.

One month later, Alun's wing had been fully healed thanks to the skills of a village elder. It was midnight when Lidi and Kalana sent him off.

Holding him on her hand, Kalana pet him once more.

"I pray that your journey be safe, dear Alun. Choose your path well." Kalana told him. Lidi stood next to her.

"Please, if you go to Talim then please watch over my daughter. I love her, and I know that you love her as well. Take care, dear Alun. I hope to see you again."

With their words said, Kalana lifted Alun into the air, and he spread his wings open as the Wind caught him and sent him soaring up. His figure was a solid black against the silver of the moon, and he went on, his head held high.

He dove back down, and spun over Kalana and Lidi five times before going down all the way and flying strait past them. Then, he flew away, off into the night hoping to meet his best friend once again.

Ok, there was the little story of how Alun was free. And I know that Talim's tribe didn't shun her, but it made the story better! Some of you probably hate me! HAHAHA!

I hope that you stay with me, and that you enjoyed this chapter! And Alun is a gray falcon, and since Talim was supposed to be the next leader of her people why shouldn't she have her own crib? Well, that's all that I want to say besides please review!

So Until Next Time,

CrypticElf....


	5. Thuban

Hello my readers! I'm back with a new chapter!

Oh, I wanted to personally thank Jarock16 for giving me information on Thuban, I would have been lost without him since my mom took away SCII because she told me that I play it too much... but... she's had it for like three weeks now! How much longer will she keep it? ; ; this is insane!

And, I wanted to thank all of the others who gave me help, I would say your names but hasn't put up your reviews yet! And, it seems that after a period of time AOL erases my old e-mails. Sigh so, if you have any Q's that you asked then please ask again! Bows Sorry.... Sorry... sorry....

Ok, and just to let people know this IS A TALIM AND LINK FIC! Zelda is Link's sister but she isn't Link's sister in my fic 'What Is The Truth?' so I'm telling you that way some people don't freak out! Although, none of you even read my Zelda fic besides Hououza... hem....

Another thing, I know, I know, all of you just want me to shut up and get the fic going, but I have to say this. This fic WILL HAVE A SEQUAL! OK? I might as well state that since I already have all of this other junk up, on my last chapter of this fic I will state that again, I'm just warning ya'.

I own nothing of Soul Calibur II but the plot is mine so if you take it I get to sue you!

Chapter Five: Thuban 

Talim and Link had been traveling for at least a week now, both of them chatting about anything that came to mind. The same thing was on their minds' though, when would they get to the next town?

"Talim," Link asked. "Can the Wind tell you how many miles the next town is?"

"I'm not sure." Talim replied as she looked up at the clouds. "I can't remember if the Wind uses miles. I'll ask though."

"Alright."

"Wind," Talim asked, Link had gotten used to her talking openly with the wind, and surprisingly it didn't see odd to him. "How far away is the next town?"

_'Ah, you are not far. By the end of the day you should be able to reach a ferry. Beware young Talim.'_

"What?" Talim asked, but the when the Wind didn't reply Talim understood that this was a test of her smarts.

"What's wrong?" Link asked as he looked at her with worry.

"We should arrive at a ferry by the end of a day, but the Wind told me, 'beware, young Talim' what do you think that meant?"

"'Young Talim'? The wind calls you that?" Link said instead paying attention to what she had said. Talim saw this and let the Wind blow hard enough to knock Link backwards.

"Hey!" Link cried as Talim decided to run off to farther annoy him. "That wasn't far! Get back here!"

Link scrammed up and then ran after Talim, who was running faster then he could.

"Talim!" Link yelled, she laughed and ran faster. "This isn't fair!"

Talim just kept on going, and Link actually envied her height. Because she was so short with a pitched in waist, that made her light. Her legs were long for her height, which added an advantage. And another thing that she had that Link didn't have was her connection with the wind; she was using the wind to push her faster and faster.

"Talim!" Link cried out as he continued chasing after her for at least twenty minutes, thank Farore that he had been training with that runner in Hyrule that he gave that odd bunny hat to or else he would have lost his running pace about ten minutes ago. And that made him wonder how Talim was keeping her speed.

Talim finally stopped after another twenty minutes; Link finally caught up with her and then sat on the ground.

"What'd you run off for?" Link huffed as he wiped some sweat off of his forehead.

"Because you ignored me." Talim replied with a small, taking in large breaths as well. She kicked the ground and then lay back on the grass and blinked against the sun.

"What?" Link asked, he thought back and realized that he had. "But did I have to chase you for forty minutes?"

"You bet your hat." Talim told him with a satisfied smile.

"Ack! You're a pain!" Link told her sarcastically as he lay back as well.

Link rested there for only a few seconds before he heard Talim get up. Sitting up, he saw her running off again. He got up as well and just as he was about to run after her when he tripped in the hole that she had kicked into the ground just before she had lain down.

_'She did that on purpose!'_ Link cried in his thoughts as he got up as fast as he could and started chasing after Talim again. Unfortunate for our Hero of Time, she was already far enough to where she had turned around to make sure that he had tripped in the hole she had made.

"I'll see you later Link!" Talim teased as she turned around and started running off again.

"I'll get her for this..." Link mumbled under his labored breath.

They had arrived at a dock next to a large river, but they hadn't arrived at the end of the day. Talim's little running marathons had sped them up, and she had kept on doing them over and over again.

"There aren't... any boats...." Link huffed as he caught up with Talim as she stopped at the dock.

"You're... right." Talim replied as she took in deep breaths and then rested her palms on her knees. "Let's rest... and then... look...."

Link nodded and then sat down and took out his canteen and drank up the rest of his water. Talim did the same, and then after that they just laid on the dock. After a few minutes, they both felt re-energized and were ready to go.

"Glad that I'm used to this." Link told Talim as he stretched.

"To what?" Talim asked as she looked at the river.

"Getting tired and then easily feeling great again. Where I come from, I would always fight monsters and be out-of-energy, but I got used to it and I was used to getting energy from somewhere else inside of myself and let the tired side of take control later."

"That is nice."

"What about you?"

"Me? I'm just used to not getting much rest. I can go with only two hours of rest and feel as if I slept for hours! It's something that you have to learn to be a Shaman, because sometimes you must go on challenges and sometimes you can't sleep for days. So they prepare you for that."

"Being a Shaman sounds pretty bad." Link told her as he finished stretching, Talim turned around and smiled.

"Well, good thing that I don't have to be one right?"

Link realized what he had said and was about to apologize when Talim pointed and said:

"Look Link! There's a boat over there!"

Link looked where her finger was pointed and indeed there was one small boat left.

"Let's go!" Talim cried and she ran off towards the boat. Link sighed and shook his head, she knew that he was trying to say sorry but she just wouldn't let him!

Link trotted after Talim as she waited for him next to the boat. They both looked at the boat and at the wide river.

"Do you think this boat is strong enough?" Link asked doubtfully.

"I'm not sure, but it's the only boat, do you see any other boats?"

Link looked around, and even though he knew that there weren't any he looked anyway just to be sure.

"You're right." Link agreed, and Talim started getting into the boat....

"There's a fee."

Talim and Link turned around to see a person standing behind them, and they knew that he was a thief by the way he was dressed.

"There's a fee to travel on this boat."

"What is it?" Talim asked, wanting no trouble.

"900,000,000 gold."

"What? That's crazy!" Link argued, Talim frowned and then thought up of a plan.

"Alright, we'll get on the boat." Talim told the stranger, "But we aren't paying."

"What? But you have to!"

"Not if you tell us that we don't have to." With that said Talim pulled out Syi Sarika and Luka Luha and ran towards him and started smacking him with the sides of her Elbow Blades, which wouldn't cause scratches but would cause painful bruises.

"Stop!" The thief yelled as he tried to escape but Talim just kept on hitting him. "ALRIGHT! YOU GET THE BOAT FOR FREE! JUST STOP!"

Talim immediately stopped and then the thief ran off and dropped something, Talim bent over it and then picked it up after looking at it for a while and put it into her pack. Talim then stood up and then walked back over to Link and got on the boat.

"Let's get going." Talim told Link as started unwrapping the rope that kept it to the dock. Link got into the boat and Talim finished and pushed the boat off of the dock.

"Do you do that to everyone?" Link asked bewildered.

"Do what?" Talim asked as she paddled across the water, Link grabbed another paddle and started helping.

"Hit the guy until you get the boat for free?"

"Oh, that?" Talim laughed. "Well, he was being unfair. It was obvious that he was just cheating. This boat probably won't even take us that far."

"What? Then why are we in it?"

"Because it's the only boat." Talim replied simply as she looked forward. "But you're strong, so we'll get across soon enough."

"Just me? You're strong too."

"Oh, thank you." Talim told him as she looked over the water. "If we had a mast then we could across so much faster! Too bad. Maybe next time."

"Right." Link replied.

By the end of the day they arrived at the other side of the river, they would have made better time if the boat had been constructed better and if the water hadn't been pushing against them.

"Finally!" Link cried as he jumped out of the boat and onto the firm ground. Unfortunately there hadn't been a dock, so they had to pull off next to a small forest. Talim got out as well, and instead of tying the boat down she let it go because both her and Link knew that they boat wouldn't be able to hold another person without sinking.

"Should we set camp Link?" Talim asked as she looked at the sky that was starting to become covered with streaks of red, purple, and pink.

"Beats me." Link replied. "Does the wind know?"

"Wind, is there a town nearby?"

_'It is not far. I suggest that you go, it is strait ahead. Good work with the thief.'_

Talim blushed from the Wind's praise and then turned to Link.

"We should go, it's strait ahead."

"Alright, let's get going though... I hope that they have an inn!" Link cried as they started off.

In ten minutes or so, they arrived at a village next to a river that had nets hanging out. But the odd thing was, was that all of the nets were empty.

"Maybe they just got all of the fish down?" Talim suggested as she looked at the oddity as well.

"I don't know..." Link replied doubtfully.

"Why don't we go and see if they have an inn and get a room?"

"Good idea."

Link and Talim walked into the village, the stars in the sky starting to come out.

"Welcome travelers!" Some cried out, Talim and Link waved and smiled as many others called out as well.

"Do you have an inn?" Link asked a young man going to his home.

"Yes, it's right down there." He pointed to a slightly large house nearby.

"Thank you." Talim told him as they walked past, the man blushed and waved good-bye as he looked at her clothes.

"We would like a...." Talim looked at Link and Link looked at her as they stood at the counter of the inn. "Do you want to share a room Link?"

"Uh... sure. Less money right?" Link replied and she nodded.

"One room with two beds please." Talim told the man at the counter, he smiled and then nodded.

"Follow me." He said.

He led them to their room on the second floor and opened it for them and then handed Link the key.

"There's only one key to this room," The man told Link. "Don't lose it."

"We won't." Link replied and then smiled as he closed the door.

"What a nice little room!" Talim mused as she looked at the two beds. "Which bed do you want Link?"

"Doesn't matter." Link replied as he looked around the room. "Small, yet satifying."

"Shouldn't you say that for food?" Talim giggled as she picked the bed closest to the window.

"Eh, I guess so... but I like saying for this."

They laughed together and Talim went over to the window and opened it for a moment and then closed it.

"Why'd you close the window?" Link asked as she walked away from it.

"It would bother you."

"I wouldn't mind."

Talim shook her head and took her pack off of her back and put it next to the bed and then sat down. Link took the other bed and did the same.

"Let me see... shouldn't they have some food downstairs?" Link asked, Talim nodded as she leaned on her hands, which caused her shoulders to go up to her ears. She wasn't looking at Link; she was staring at the floor. "Hello?"

"What?" Talim asked as she straitened her back and her hands on her lap.

"Shouldn't there be food downstairs?"

"Ah... yes, but we have to pay for it just like... oops, we forgot to pay for the room!" Talim jumped up and then grabbed her purse that was tied to a golden loop on her pants. Opening it, she counted how much money she had and then nodded and closed it. "I'll be right back, don't lock the door!"

She went out and Link watched her and as she closed the door he called:

"Don't take too long!"

She nodded on her way out and then closed the door; Link watched her and then turned away as she closed the door. Sighing, he looked around the room and then took off his boots and gauntlets and after a few moments of consideration he also took off his hat. He took down his horsetail and then put a hand through his and found that he couldn't. Ah... he needed to brush his hair! But he didn't have a brush, did he?

Maybe Talim one? Although he didn't want to go through her things, he didn't know how long Talim would be gone and so he decided just look at the brush and nothing else. He got off of his bed and then walked over to Talim's bag and opened it, making sure not to take put anything out of order. He found the brush after a few seconds, and he reached down to get it when he spotted something. He reached down to get it and as he touched it, he felt a horrible feeling....

He took his hand away and stepped back... that had been a piece of Soul Edge!

Why hadn't Talim told him that she had another piece of Soul Edge? Didn't she trust him...?

Link heard the door open and turned around and saw Talim coming through the door with a platter of food.

"I've got some food!" Talim cried as she went into the room and closed the door with her left heel. "Ah... Link, I forgot to tell you, I found a piece of Soul Edge."

She... she did trust him?

"When?" Link asked.

"Remember the thief? He dropped something and it was a piece of Soul Edge, I was going to tell you immediately but I decided to wait until we found a place to sleep."

"Really?" Link asked happily. "That's great!"

'That's great!' was also said because they had found a piece of Soul Edge but also because Talim _did_ trust him!

"Eat." Talim laid down some bread, water, and salad. "They didn't have any meat."

"What? But I thought that this was a fishing village?"

"It is, but some miners have been giving them a problem. The miners have poisoned their water source and it's effecting the fish and driving them away." Talim told him sorrowfully as she took a piece of bread and put some cheese on it and then ate it as unison.

"Hey, soft bread." Link joked as he picked up a piece of bread and gently squeezed it and watched it go up and down.

"Ha, ha." Talim told him after she drank some water. "Hey Link, why is your hair so tangled?"

Blushing, Link touched his hair.

"I never bother to brush it." He admitted.

"You can use my brush!" Talim told him. "I'll give it to you after we finished eating!"

And indeed they finished and Talim gave him her brush, Link attempted to brush his hair but found that it was too knotted.

"Can't get the brush through your hair?" Talim asked after she had watched him on her bed for ten minutes.

"You noticed eh?" Link replied as he put the brush down.

"Do you want me to brush your hair?" Talim asked, Link looked at her surprised. "What? I will!"

"Uh... alright." Link said as she got off of her bed.

She walked over and then took the brush from Link hand and then sat down on the edge of his bed.

"Turn around." Talim commanded gently and he turned around on the edge of the bed with one leg off of the bed.

Gently, Talim softly started brushing Link's hair, only letting the tips of the brush touch the outer layer of his hair. She worked slowly, letting the tangles come undone slowly. Link closed his eyes, the feeling of Talim brushing his hair actually calming him down and giving him slight goose bumps. She brushed as gently as she could the layers of knots in his hair. She brushed for a long time, long enough to where everyone in town had fallen asleep. She soon stopped, and by habit she put her hand through Link's hair to make sure that there weren't any tangles left. She immediately took her hand down, but Link turned around and grabbed it.

"No... uh... that feels... nice." He told her shyly, she nodded and he turned around and she put her hand through his hair again. He sighed softly, closing his eyes again.

Talim looked at Link's ears and noticed that they weren't as normal as they usually were. Usually they were pointing upward slightly against his head. But now they were facing completely outward, but the funny part was, was that they pointed down and the tips of his ears touched his shoulders. Talim smiled and kept on brushing her fingers through Link's hair. After a few minutes had passed, she took her hand down.

Link turned around and looked at Talim, and for a moment they were looking at each other eye-to-eye and not looking away. For a moment, everything seemed to completely melt away....

"Thank you for b-brushing my hair Talim." Link stuttered, Talim blinked and then nodded and then got off of Link's bed after smiling at him.

She went over to her bed and sat down and started pulling out all of the blond hairs out of her brush. Once she had all of them out and into a ball of hair she opened the window and let the hair go out the window. Then she put her brush away and lay down on her bed and closed her eyes.

Link watched her and then looked away and put a hand through his own hair and felt how soft and untangled it was. Smiling he put his hair back up into a horsetail and then looked over at Talim who was already dead asleep.

Link walked over and pulled the covers out from under Talim and then put them over her small and yet somewhat delicate body. He laid it over her, and then took the pillow and put it underneath her head. He sat down on his ankles and looked at Talim's face. Her bangs slightly covered her face, so Link lightly brushed them away. Then, without noticing what he was doing he bent down, and gently kissed her cheek.

MWEHEHEH! FLUFF! AND LOTS OF IT! EHEHEHEH!!!!! FLUFF SHALL RULE THE WORLD!!!!!

So Until Next Time,

CrypticElf....


	6. A New Character Arises

OMG I am so sorry that I haven't updated! I can't believe that I haven't been updating! Forgive me…! I hope that you enjoy this chapter, I really do!

**kat-SageofWisdom-princessZel: Hey! Hey! Never thought that you'd be reviewing for this story! And yes it seems that we have met again. And in response to your review, I didn't mean that no one is reviewing for my Truth story, I was saying that there aren't any people who are reading this fic right now that are ALSO reading my Truth fic. But that's not true anymore, because now you and Hououza, another Truth reviewer, are both reviewing for this fic! So you haven't given up on me? Thank you! Yeah, Zelda if Link's sister in this fic because I couldn't stand the thought of them not being together if they could be together, so I made Zelda Link's sister so that way they couldn't be together! Kind of sad, I beat myself up for making her his sister, but, at least now they can't be together. I'm glad that you're enjoying this fic so far, I hope that you enjoy it more! Thanks for reviewing!**

**vegeta rulez: Lots and lots of fluff! Mwahaha! I'm glad that you think that my writing isn't bad for my age. Lol. Well, here's this chapter that you were bugging me for! Thanks for reviewing!**

**Ben Stylin: I have a nice story? Why thank you! Thanks for reviewing!**

**dragonpurity: I rock? (sniffle) Why thank you! Well, here's the update that you want! Thanks for reviewing!**

**Dakyu: Talim is my favorite female character and Link is my favorite male character, I really have no idea why I though of putting them together. So this fic is too good to stop eh? Well, what will happen when the fic has reached it's last chapter? Heh, heh… Well, there is going to be a sequel to this fic. Also, thank you for being a new e-mail buddy, I'd talk to you more, but I'm trying to change my e-mail address but my mom just won't get around to doing it! (sigh) Until I FINALLY get it changed, I probably won't talk to you that much. But when I change it I'll let you know and then we can start talking. Thanks for reviewing!**

**Akasonno: You think that my fic is awesome dude? I always say dude all the time and people make fun of me for it because I'm girl and all, but I still say dude no matter what! You have something in your eye? Here! Some eye drops! (Passes you eye drops) Lol! Thanks for reviewing!**

dp03kf: Your enjoying my fic? Good! YOU BETTER!!! J/K. Thanks for reviewing!

**RavenGhost: Too much sugar? Which of us has had too much sugar? HAHAHAHA!!! J/K. You like? Me like too! Thanks for reviewing!**

**Jastul: There is going to be some original stuff in this chapter, I hope that you enjoy it! Well, as you know, Talim and Link are going to end up in this fic together, and I'll get around to reading your fic ASAP. Thanks for reviewing!**

**Schmalstieg: I LIKE THE CAPS. TALIM AND LINK WILL MEET AGAIN BUT NOT IN THIS CHAPTER. AND HEY, I'M SURE THAT THERE ARE PEOLE LISTENING TO YOU, YOU JUST DON'T NOTICE. IF YOU WANT SOME HELP OR SOMETHING, E-MAIL ME AT ** **I HOPE THAT YOU HAVE A GOOD TIME READING THIS FIC. THANKS FOR REVIEWING!**

**redskin122004: Yup, lots-o-love going around in this fic. You're giving this story a nine out of ten? I feel… so… warm… and… and fuzzy! Thank you! This one is going on your list? More fuzzy feelings…! Thanks for reviewing!**

**Jarock16: Couldn't have made this chapter without you! Thanks for reviewing!**

**Hououza: More good moments between the two of them soon! Thanks for reviewing!**

**AnimeDutchess: This fic is awesome? Aw… thanks! Thanks for reviewing! Hope that you get to use 'kawaii' more often!**

**daniel fine: More romance to come don't you worry! (Looks at burning person) Burning Person: No! Help me! (Jumps into a bucket of water) Burning Person: I am no longer burning! Me: Hmm… (Uses magic and set him on fire again) Better! Burning Person: NOT AGAIN! (Runs off) Me: Hahaha… I'm a pyromaniac…. Thanks for reviewing!**

**YojimboBlade: Yup! Finally fluff! Thanks for reviewing!**

**Super Davis: I get a 6.5? YES! I'm getting myself up there! Booyah! This chapter is dedicated to YOU! Thanks for reviewing!**

**Great-Divide: Yup, good old fluff that rules the world… lol. Yeah, I can never really find what to say in a review that often but then it's always… very big. Anyway, I hope that you enjoy this chapter! Thanks for reviewing!**

And this chapter if dedicated to Super Davis, who gave me my first flame and now strangely… we're e-mail friends… o.O Yeah… weird….

I own nothing of Soul Calibur II and never will be the plot is mine so if you take it I get to sue you!

**Chapter Six: A New Character Arises**

"Link? Link? Are you ready?"

Link rolled onto his side as hands gently gripped his shoulders shaking him softly, groaning, he pulled the blanket over his head.

"Not today…" He murmured softly as he curled into a small ball. "I don't want to go today…."

"But don't you want to go and start on our journey again?"

"Journey? What journey Zel?"

"I'm not Zel, I'm Talim."

Link put his blanket down and rolled on his side, looking at Talim's grinning face.

"I'm sorry to wake you Link," Talim informed him as her smile faded slowly. "But it's almost noon and I thought it odd that you were sleeping for so long… I guess that you could say that I was worried…."

"What? Noon!?" Link cried as he jumped off the bed knocking Talim over. "Ack! Sorry!"

"It's alright!" Talim giggled as Link helped her up. "We don't have to go now, we could stay here another day you know." She suggested kindly.

"No, we should get going as soon as possible." Link replied, pulling Talim up onto her feet. "I slept that long?"

"Yes." Talim answered as she stepped away from Link and over to her bed where it appeared to made, looking as if she hadn't even slept in it only this morning. "Link, if you don't mind me asking, who is 'Zel?'"

"Oh… no, her name isn't Zel, it's Zelda." Link informed Talim as he frowned with a depressed sigh. "She's my… my sister."

"Your sister?" Talim echoed curiously.

"Yeah, she's my older sister… she's a great warrior with magic, she uses more war magic then healing magic, although she has great healing tricks even so…." Link looked up at Talim biting his lip. "I'm sorry… I'm rambling…."

"No, I like it when people ramble." Talim smiled brightly. "I love to listen to people talk. It's nice."

"Really? I hate it when Zel talks… she can on, and on, and on, and on, and on, and on, and on about the same thing for like… three hours…" Link replied to Talim, who was laughing. "No, not really, fact is she's usually too busy to talk to me, whenever she does talk it's about business."

"Why?" Talim asked, her laughter stopped quickly as she slightly tilting her head to the side, something that Link had just noticed.

"She rules over the land that I come from."

"Really? Wouldn't that make you the prince or something?"

"You know… I never really thought about that…" Link murmured as his eyebrows went up. "You know what, you're right! I am the prince of Hyrule! …. You know, that creeps me out…."

Talim laughed and closed her eyes for a few seconds and then she stopped and smiled at Link.

"I am in the presence of a prince!" She declared as she bowed down for a moment.

"Ah… don't do that… makes me feel weird…." Link begged as he blushed, Talim chuckled and straitened her back with a grin.

"When do you want to go?" She asked him, her voice almost business-like.

"As soon as possible." Link replied simply as he looked up at the ceiling. "Hey… didn't you… last night, you told me that the villagers have poisoned water or something right?"

"Yes."

"Maybe we could help them?" Link looked down at Talim, who was gazing out the window as she sat on her bed with smooth sheets.

"Maybe." Talim replied, although Link could tell by her tone that only a quarter of her mind was still in the room that he was standing in with her. Link smiled as he shook his head and then bent over and picked up his hat that was resting on his pack, tucking his ears in his hat, making sure that his hat was nice and snug on his head.

Looking over at the table, he saw a small tray of food that had fruit and bread on it, the same variety that they had last night. Link walked over and started helping himself to some fruit, soon after he picked up a piece of bread and nibbled on it. He left the food alone after that, wanting Talim to be able to eat something as well.

"Talim?" Link called as he walked up towards her, she turned around and smiled up at him.

"Yes?" She answered kindly as she rested her hands on her lap, making her look even more sweet and innocent then Link had seen her look before… wait, why was he thinking about that?

"Um… hey, maybe we should… help the villagers with that water poisoning thing?" He suggested, throwing out that thought about her looking cute and innocent out of his mind, although it still lingered even so.

"That's a great idea!" Talim agreed as she jumped off her bed, landing right in front of Link, so close that Link could feel her breathing against his chest. Turning around and stepping away from him obviously not bothered by this closeness, she picked up her pack off the floor and then faced Link. "What's wrong Link?"

"What? What do you mean?" He asked, touching his face, trying to see if he felt anything on it.

"Your face is red." Talim informed him in a concerned tone. "And it's getting redder."

"Duh…" Link turned around, nearly slapping himself. "I think maybe I ate something… weird…."

"Oh, are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine…" Link replied, trying to stop himself from blushing, but being embarrassed he could only blush more. "Hey… why don't you meet me downstairs Talim?"

"Okay." She answered, giving Link's back a small frown as she exited. "I'll be downstairs then…."

Talim closed the door, glancing nervously at Link, wondering if she had done anything to upset him. Once her footsteps were gone, Link waited a few moments until he knew that she was too far to hear him say anything.

"Gah! Kmah esh mefk uhd deak?" He cried to himself in Hylian as he kicked the floor. (Translation: 'Gah! What the heck was that?') "Jkah ehf mahdjke hdaike hakte hoaud Link?" (Why did you act like that Link?) "Amer… shakd ak _shwua _iheah hre?" (Gees… what is _wrong_ with me?)

Link paused and looked up at the ceiling and then laid his hands at his sides, sighing. "Ym hakds dho chkea loked…" (I need to get therapy…)

------------

"Hey Talim." Link called as he traveled down the stairs, jumping off the second to last step. "Are you ready?"

"Ready!" Talim answered as she laughed at him for jumping. "Are you for helping the villagers?"

"I am." Link nodded as they started walking together.

"Well, let's go see if we can do anything to help." Talim smiled as they stepped outside where the villagers in view all waved and smiled.

Walking up to a random young woman, Talim asked: "Is there anything that me and my friend can do to help you with your poison problem?"

"Oh! That would be nice but someone's already gone down to do it." She replied with a frown. "They went early 'dis mornin'… problem is, is 'dat they've been gone for a real long time… we're afraid that the miners that are poisoninin' our river has done somethin' horrible to em'!"

"Which way is the mine?" Talim asked her. "We might be able to help."

"Down 'dat way, be real careful!" The young woman warned as she pointed to the right.

"We will." Talim answered with a small smile and a nod as she walked off, followed by Link.

"I hope that that person is alright." Link whispered to Talim as she nodded in agreement.

"Let's hope."

Talim and Link broke into a small jog, hoping to reach there in time.

Right after they reached the end of the town, they saw a small group of people traveling towards them off in the distance, both Talim and Link stopped, sending a small glance at each other.

"You two!" Someone called as he halted, everyone else around him stopped as well. "Come here!"

Talim and Link glanced at one another again, not sure wither to trust this stranger or to come. But by their glances, they knew that if something were to happen that the other would be ready. They started walking, hands ready to grab their weapons just in case. They walked up to the man that had called them and the group.

"What are you two doing?" He asked as looked at them.

"We were going to go and help with the problem in the mines." Talim answered strongly. "Are you the leader of the miners?"

"No, and there no longer is a problem in the mines. My name is Maxi, yours?"

"My name is Talim, and this is my friend Link." She answered. "I'm guessing that you solved the problem?"

"That I did." He answered, looking at Talim.

"I'm so glad that you're okay!" Talim cried out happily as she took her hands away from her elbow blades and letting them lay on the golden hope that she had on her pants, suddenly switching from serious to her old normal self. The man named Maxi laughed, obviously amused by her sudden mood change.

"Well aren't you just a small fry?" He laughed in amusement. "Why don't we just head back the village?"

"Of course!" Talim agreed with a smile. Maxi chuckled and started walking, Talim and Link and the group behind him following.

Link looked at Maxi, taking in what he saw.

Maxi had jet black hair coming out in one large bang in the front of his face, his skin was tanned apparently from the sun, his eyes an icy blue. He wore white, baggy pants, and the only thing that he seemed to have for as a 'shirt', although Link wouldn't call it that, was something like a vest. He had two odd and interesting looking… sticks… connected by a chain, Link stared at his weapons, wondering what in the world that they were and wither they were even weapons.

Author's Note: Hey, I needed a little bit of some original stuff didn't I? I hope that Maxi being in this chapter doesn't send any mobs after me! (Suddenly sees a group of people with pitchforks and torches) Mob: GET HER! Me: EEP! (Runs off with the mob chasing after her)

"So the two of you are traveling together?" Maxi asked both Talim and Link as the three of them sat at a table at the local bar, the whole town was celebrating Maxi's victory and the miners were also glad that they would get their way as well. Maxi, Talim, and Link all sat on a single table together, the three of them didn't order anything to drink, at least Talim hadn't wanted to and that persuaded Link not to get anything and Maxi, thinking that he would feel awkward didn't order anything either.

"Yes, we are." Talim stated with a friendly smile, the smile, Link noted, that she always did when she was talking and making sure to be polite.

"And where are the two of you headed may I ask?" Maxi questioned as he barely leaned over, so small that he didn't even notice and Link and Talim didn't see.

"We don't know." Talim admitted with a small chuckle.

"Don't know? Well that's not good. So the two of you are just going wherever the wind blows?"

"No, we're trying to get a certain destination." Talim licked her small, dry lips and made tiny sigh.

"If you don't know where you're going how do you get there?" Maxi asked, looked a little puzzled but also amused.

"I…" Talim was about to say, 'I go which way the Wind tells me,' but luckily she quickly changed her sentence, stuttering a little. "We're collecting information to get where we need to go."

"Well then, give me the details and maybe I can help." Maxi stated as he looked at the two of them.

"Well… we're…." Talim glanced at Link, wondering if he would want to keep where they were going a secret. Link returned her glance with a small smile, telling her that it was fine. Talim smiled a little, Maxi looked at the two of them for a moment and then shrugged it off. "We're traveling to destroy and thing called Soul Edge."

"You're what?" Maxi cried, and everyone in the bar would have all stared at him if it hadn't been so noisy with two slightly drunk men singing something. Maxi glanced around himself, checking to make sure that no one had him, and then leaned closer toward Link and Talim. Making the two of them want to go backwards, but both kept themselves still. "You're going for Soul Edge? No joke?"

"Yes." Talim nodded seriously, knowing that the carefree conversation that they had been having before was gone.

"You?" Maxi shook his head. "No offence, but you, Talim, look like if someone hit you hard enough once that they'd break you back instantly. And you, Link, you're not too short, but you really don't look like you could put up a fight that well. Sorry to say, but you'd be no match to face anything that contained a piece of Soul Edge inside of itself."

"Maybe you're right." Talim stated, her eyes strong and almost stern. "But at least we're going to try, and I have seen Link fight, and he can do much more then you think. He's fast, strong, and has great balance and take out many well-fit warriors who have been training all their life quickly. I trust him with my **life**, and I would never trust my life with anyone else."

Link blushed hotly, feeling embarrassed and proud at once by Talim's great waves of praise. She would trust him with her life? Link shifted in his seat, blushing even deeper.

"Even if he's strong and a great fighter," Maxi replied back sternly. "I don't think that you could fight."

"She can." Link nodded, Maxi looked at Link, and Talim as well. Link paused before he spoke again, feeling awkward. "She could take down someone twice her size and much stronger then she is easily. I haven't seen her do so, but I can tell that she could. She's a great strategist, has more celerity then anyone that I've ever known, and although she isn't that strong, she knows where to hit the enemy and how to take them down quickly. She's no joke. She's a true warrior, with the skills and the heart of one, a pure and true heart of one."

Maxi glanced between the both of them, then he smiled, and Talim could tell by that smile that he had just thought of an idea.

"Well… I wouldn't want the two of you going off if I didn't know if you could fight well, so how about I create a village contest? Anyone who wants to fight will sign up; it wouldn't take more then a day. What do you say? I won't enter, I just want to see how well the two of you can fight."

Talim bit her lip, and then replied, "I want to talk to Link about it."

"Alright then. Give me your answer quick." Maxi got off of his chair, walking over to the bar to order a drink. Talim looked at Link, her eyes worried.

"What should we do Link?" Talim sighed, Link shrugged with a frown, not knowing what to do either.

"It would be good for us to state to him that we can indeed fight," Link remarked, Talim slightly nodding but not completely. "But then it would take up time. And besides, even if Maxi wanted to he couldn't stop us. If he tried to fight us I'm sure that if we teamed up that we could take him down easy."

"Oh… you have a good point… but… oh…" Talim shook her head looking down at the floor.

"What?" Link asked, leaning over a little.

"I want to prove that we can fight, but you're right, it would waste time." Talim looked up, grinning. "Our journey is more important then our ego!"

"You're right Talim!" Link agreed with a nod and a large smile, also with a small laugh. "I don't want to sound naïve, but we don't have to prove Maxi anything, we both know that we can fight and that's all that we need, we don't need someone else telling us that we can. We can make our own choices, together. No one else."

"Right!" Talim did a small, not too high punch in the air. Taking her arm down, she had another thoughtful look on her face. "Should we tell him our answer or just leave?"

"Why would we just leave?" Link asked confused as he leaned back, realizing that he had still been leaning over.

"Because, if we told him that we didn't want to fight in that little contest then he'd try and stop us. We'd have to fight."

"Oh… I never thought about that." Link nodded, then he made a deep, long sigh. "Let's just leave then. We have all of our stuff and the village doesn't need anymore help, so we can just go without regret."

"We should tell someone at least," Talim added. "They won't tell immediately, because they'll be too busy celebrating, only when someone asks where we went will word get around."

"Let's go then, and hurry." Link glanced up at Maxi, who was chatting with a couple of men, looking almost as if he had forgotten completely about them.

They both got off of their chairs, and walking towards the door Talim tapped a young man on the should, turning around he looked at her.

"Yes?" He asked, clearly confused, although he wasn't drunk.

"We're leaving now, but don't tell anyone until someone starts asking, we wouldn't want to ruin the party. By the way, which way would be west?" Talim told him loud enough to where he could hear her; he nodded with a large smile.

"West? Take a left and keep going and your going west. Of course! You're great lass! You know not to ruin a great party! You can count on me!" The young man smiled with a nod, Talim smiled back and nodded and then turn and walked over to Link who was waiting next to the door.

Link opened the door slightly; not wanting Maxi's to see the light that would stream through the open and turn to see who was leaving. Talim went through the door first and then Link after her, shutting the door quietly although he knew quiet well that with that noise that no one would hear the door, but he did just by habit anyway.

"Let's run!" Talim told Link, he nodded and they both started running, although he let Talim go ahead of him, knowing that she would know where to go better then he would.

Thirty minutes later, Link and Talim slowed their run together into a quick walk, feeling that they were safe enough from Maxi catching up to them. They both took in small deep breaths, in through the nose out through the mouth.

"Think he'll… catch up?" Link asked Talim with a grin.

"Maybe." Talim chuckled. "Water?"

"Please." He replied, Talim passed him a canteen of water, Link took it and took and a mouthful as Talim took her own mouthful from another. "I wish that I had Epona…."

"Epona? Who's that?"

"She's my horse." Link sighed, his eyelids lowering a little. "Whenever I needed her, I just had to play a single song and she'd always come. Of course, it wasn't like she could from that far, it's just that if I was camping or something she would always go off and do whatever she wanted and all that I had to do was play a melody and she'd come to me, and I wouldn't have to come to her."

"Your Epona sound like a true friend." Talim smiled slightly.

"She was." Link bit his lip, his ears lowering just a tad.

"Was?"

"I can't go back," Link answered as he looked up at Talim. "I came here to stop Soul Edge and I was sent here from another land far away, different dimensions, they were able to send me here but I was told that I could not come back because they'd have to be here with me in order to do that, and that only one person could got through the portal and that only the three of them could do it together, if one of them was gone then they wouldn't be able to do it."

"Who are these three that you're talking about?" Talim asked.

"Oh… the Three Great Goddesses, Nayru, Far ore, and Din." Link answered. "They created Hyrule, which as you know is where I come from. They live somewhere in the sky that it's said."

"They're Goddesses? And they talked to you?" Talim gasped as she blinked multiple times at once.

"They talk through my sister, Zelda, because my sister has the most magic in the land and so only she could be able to hear their voice and be able to hear them without going insane. They tell my sister things in her dreams, but if it's urgent then they just tell her even if she's going taking a bath or something, she'll just go into this weird state where her eyes will cloud up and she'll kind of glow a little, I've only seen it once. When I did see it I actually screamed." Link laughed as he shook his head. "The maid said that I screamed like a girl. No offence."

"No offence at all!" Talim giggled. "It would be funny to hear you scream like a girl!"

"Yeah, they thought that it had been Zelda who had screamed…." Link shook his again, laughing at himself.

Talim laughed again, imagining a female screaming coming out of Link's throat, and when she did she laughed even harder.

"Hey!" Link cried as he stopped when Talim started laughing harder to where she had stopped walking and was leaning over, and he already knew what she thinking even though she wasn't even saying it.

Well then, that was a… kind of stupid chapter but… I'll get going on the other one right after I update this! After all… I have… nothing to do… (Cries)

So Until Next Time,

_CrypticElf…._


	7. Protect

HA! Here I am again… and I won't respond to any reviews, because, I GOT NONE! And that's just because I updated to fast! , Yup! Hope that you enjoy this chapter!

Dang it… that's such a cheesy title!

Talim: It's cute!

Link: Um… yeah… what she said… o.O

-- Mfm…

Link: CrypticElf owns nothing of SCII but the script if hers so if you try to take it she can and WILL sue you!

**Chapter Seven: Protect**

"Man, it's COLD." Link complained as he rubbed his arms with his hands. Talim was also rubbing her arms with her hands, shivering, looking at the landscape of the forest that they were in.

"The cold came so fast!" Talim exclaimed as she looked at the last dying rays of the sun that had disappeared behind the horizon, letting the moon have her turn for looking over the Earth and our two heroes. "It never got this cold in the village!"

"It did where I came from…." Link sighed as he sniffled lowly. "We would get snow whenever it got cold."

"Snow?" Talim asked, stopping in her tracks to look at Link, her shoulders hunched in. "What's that?"

"What's snow?" Link exclaimed as he stopped as well, obviously and completely amazed and flabbergasted. "Snow! You know, little white fluffy cold things that come down from the sky?"  
"No." Talim shook her head as she rubbed her dry, petite nose. "The only thing that I've ever seen fall from the sky is rain."

"So you've never seen snow before…" Link murmured as he licked his lips. "I can't believe that…"

"Is it really so bad not to have seen snow?"

"It's just… odd is all." Link answered as he started again with Talim following him. "Where are we headed to next?"

"Benetnash." Talim replied as she wondered what in the world snow was. "I asked the Wind before we left that inn."

"I wonder how that Maxi guy handled us leaving him!" Link laughed as he looked behind them, although he knew that he wouldn't see Maxi chasing franticly after them. "He probably went crazy!"

Talim laughed along with him, covering her mouth and briefly closing her eyes.

"Camp?" Talim asked Link, he immediately nodded.

"Thought you'd never ask!" Link agreed with a smile. "Let's look for a nice place to camp."

Talim nodded, closing her eyes for just a second before opening them again and then heading off to the left of the small dirt road. After a few minutes of walking, they arrived at a small clearing, obviously made by previous travelers and had been used even after that. Talim took off her pack, signaling to Link that this would be where they'd camp. "I'll go look for some wood." Link told Talim.

"Okay. Be back soon!" Talim smiled as Link took off his pack, leaving Talim to take out his blanket and set up most of camp. (Not that there really was much a camp to make.)

Link walked away from their new camp, searching for wood, he would occasionally find a nicely sized piece of wood and pick it up. Every once in a while he would stop and make sure that it wasn't too dark to where he wouldn't be able to find his way through the woods, although he didn't worry that much because he was already used to walking through forest during the dead of night without tripping on a single root.

He stayed out for five more minutes until he felt that he had enough wood to make a fire, turning back, he walked back to camp where Talim had already cleared the small little fire pit that had made.

"Back so soon!" Talim smiled as she pulled out Link's blanket and laid it on the floor.

"Yup." Link answered as he placed the wood in the small fire pit, making sure that there wasn't too much wood to where a nearby might catch on fire. Once he was finished, he took two of the stick that he had collected and started rubbing them together as hard and as fast as could. Then, Talim walked over, pulled out some flint, knocked them together and let spark fly on the wood and after only a few seconds the wood was on fire. "I could have done that." Link cried to Talim when she walked away without saying anything

"I know you could have." Talim chuckled as she playfully stuck out her tongue at him.

"Hey!" Link narrowed his eyes as Talim laughed at him, Link shook his head and then opened his eyes back up and crawled over to his blanket that was just a few feet away.

"You looked like a cat just now," Talim chuckled as she made her hand look like a paw and made a playful swipe towards Link. "Meow."

"Ha, ha." Link replied with a smile. "What's your favorite animal Talim?"

"Hmm… that's tough…" Talim sighed as looked up at the branches above them. "I love birds, horses, fish, wolves, foxes, bats… I don't know, too many to choose from!"  
"You're a big animal lover." Link observed. "I like horses, because of my horse Epona."

"What did she look like?" Talim asked curiously.

"She had red fur all of her body, her mane was black with white tips, she had pretty amber eyes… her tail was just like her main, and her hooves were of course black but right above them was white."

"She sounds…. Like a beautiful animal."

"She is." Link agreed with a sigh as Talim tossed Link some bread and cheese. "Yay… more stale bread and weird tasting cheese!"

"Link!" Talim giggled after she swallowed a bite of bread.

"What?" Link asked innocently as he began eating his 'weird tasting' cheese.

Next morning, they collected their things and started off again, hoping that their extra early start would get them out of the forest.

"This seems… like a never ending forest…" Link complained to himself, but loud enough to where Talim could hear.

"Enjoy it." Talim warned as she skipped over the roots and then suddenly did a cartwheel.

"Well… you seem… happy…." Link stared at her as she finished her cartwheel.

"I just think that you should never be down when you don't need to be." Talim did another cartwheel, and Link wondered how she wasn't screwing up with all of the roots and branches that could make her easily mess-up. "Sure, maybe this forest never seems to end, but it isn't something to get depressed over."

"Yeah… I guess…" Link shook his head. "Man… I'm surprised at myself, I used to live in a forest and here I am complaining about being in one! Link, what is wrong with you?"  
"It isn't that." Talim answered for him. "It's because you want to hurry and complete your mission for Soul Edge."

"Hmm… you know what… you're right…" Link murmured as he thought about it. "Now I really wish that I had Epona… darn it…"

"It's okay Link!" Talim cooed. "Just enjoy yourself."

Link looked up at Talim grinning, cheerful face and large, puppy like innocent honey eyes. How could he not feel cheerful looking at a face like that?

"Come on!" Talim suddenly jumped on top of Link's back, nearly making him fall over but surprisingly he didn't.

"Gah!" Link stumbled forward and almost ate the dirt but luckily enough for him he recovered his balance.

"Okay! Let's get going!" Talim cheered as she punched the air.

"Talim, _why_ are you on my back?" Link asked, he was almost angry but at the same time he was laughing at what she had done.

"Because my legs hurt." Talim answered, although Link could tell by her cheerful tone that she was lying.

"Right…" Link started walking, and to his surprise she wasn't heavy at all, but of course, if she got on his back, he had to get her off. Walking, the suddenly came out to a large lake, Link stopped right in front of it and grinned. "Want to get wet?"

Link ran into the water splashing and once he was deep enough in the water he dived in all the way, ridding himself of the person who had been traveling on his back. Coming back up, he saw Talim; with her only her eyes and the top of her head no it in the water.

"You look like a water monster." Link told her as she stared at him, then, she started swimming backwards into deeper water and then went under the water and then disappeared into the mist of the deep water.

Link waited for her to come up, but when she didn't come up for about fifty seconds, he started to worry.

"Talim?" Link asked as he started wading into deeper water, he kept on going to where he was no longer touching the bottom of the lake's floor and was swimming over dark misty water; he looked around the lake's surface when a hand suddenly grabbed his ankle and pulled him down underneath the water.

When Link got back up, he could see Talim staring at him again, just as she had been before.

"You did that!" Link swarm towards her a little. Talim smiled and then suddenly splashed Link, getting water in his eyes, taking the moment she started swimming away towards the shore. Link rubbed the water out of his eyes and then started swimming after her. She was on the shore, watching him with a smile, and once he was in little over knee deep water she waved her hand towards him and a suddenly blast of air knocked Link over, also carrying him a few feet back.

"That's the second time that you've done that on this trip!" Link exclaimed as he spit out water from his mouth after he got out of the water.

"I couldn't help myself." Talim teased playfully.

"I'm going to get you for this!" Link warned as he shook his fists. (Just imagine a little chibi Link doing that.)

"I'll be waiting then." Talim answer as she started walking away.

"Hey! Where are you going? Wait!" Link got up and ran out of the water, splashing himself as Talim ran away. "You aren't going to keep on running for a long time like that are you?"

"Just like last time." Talim answered as she ran away, Link ran after her saying: "Noooo…."

"Should we make camp Link?" Talim asked as she looked at the red rays that were streaming through the leaves and branches. "It'll be dark very soon, maybe ten minutes that sun will be all the way down."

"Yeah, we should…" Link agreed with a nod, Talim walked off to the left, and Link followed her, knowing that she would know where to go as always.

"You want to go collect the wood again? Or should I?" Talim asked when they reached their new campsite.

"I'll go." Link answered, he smiled, left his pack with Talim and then walked off, and making sure to remember where the way to the campsite was.

He had just about collected enough wood when suddenly he heard something snap behind him. No normal person would have been able to hear that root snap, but Link, being an elf, had much more excellent hearing then any human did. He turned around quickly to where he heard the noise, looking in the brush around him, searching for any hostile looking figure, actually, any figure at all. He didn't drop the wood, knowing that he would be able to draw his sword fast enough if he was going to be attacked.

_Snap!_

Another noise! Farther down to the left! Link walked slowly yet quickly and quietly….

_Crack!_

Link walked a bit faster, making sure not to step on anything himself.

_Snap! Crack! Snap!_

Link walked forward, and he saw something move quickly away from him, he kept on going forward, in a quick pace, the something making the same pace. He couldn't tell what it was at all, it looked like a small thing, but there was something about it, something strange and confusing that Link felt about it… it felt like… something….

_Crack! Crack! Crack!_

The thing suddenly took off running, Link was about to run after it but caught himself just in time. If he chased after it, he would get lost!

'Wait…' Link thought to himself. 'Speaking of lost… where am I?'

Link looked around himself and bit his lip in anger, kicking the dirt. He sighed and looked around, finding that he couldn't find anything that looked familiar he closed his eyes and listened, listening… listening for something… hear Talim move….

"No!"

Link's eyes opened immediately and he dropped the wood that he had been collecting, that had been Talim!

Link ran toward her voice, running, faster and faster, he could feel the icy bitter air stinging his face but he didn't care, Talim was in trouble!

"Get away!" Link ran into their camp, and at first he couldn't see anything, but then he saw Talim in front of him, doing battle with some type of figure… but what was it? It looked like multiple things… floating things… Link snapped out of his little daydream and quickly ran forward, unsheathing his sword and beginning to swing his sword as fast as he could at whatever was attacking Talim.

"Stay away from her!" Link cried as he continued attacking, after a few more hits the thing suddenly flew back and fled through the trees, other pieces floating after it. Link took in deep breaths, making sure that it wasn't planning to come back.

"Link…"

Link turned around and saw Talim looking at him as she held her stomach; smiling, smiling… she was **always** smiling.

"Talim! Are you hurt?" Link asked as he ran toward her, he could see her shake her head and sigh.

"Not badly." She answered. "Thank you…"

"Where are you hurt Talim?" Link asked her gently, he saw the hand that was covering her stomach. He turned his head down to her stomach and tenderly moved her hand, revealing a deep gash in her flesh. "Talim!"

"I'm okay, really." Talim reassured him in almost a soft whisper, unfortunately, right after she said so she fell on top of Link's chest. He caught her, listening as her elbow blades fell out of her hand and dropped to the floor where a cloud of dust drifted up.

"Talim…" Link whispered as he sat down, holding Talim, he sat down with his legs crossed, placing Talim on his legs, letting her head rest on her shoulder he looked at her stomach and watched as small, thin little streams of blood ran down her skin and began staining her pants. He looked at her face and saw a thin long scratch on her cheek, and when he looked at her arms he also saw long, thin scratches, even on her neck, forehead, legs, and her pants were slightly ripped as well as her top. Link blinked a few times before bringing himself back.

Whatever it had been, it was clear that it had been able to circle around Talim and start circling around her and cutting her like small razors. Link looked at their packs and saw that Talim had barely set out his blanket when she must have been attacked. Link softly laid Talim on the ground and then walked over and quickly collected their things as fast as he could making sure not to forget Talim's elbow blades, he took the blanket that was out and instead of putting it away he brought it over to Talim, tore off a piece and wiped away the blood as well as could and rinsed it with some water from a canteen, ripped off another piece and then wrapped it around the wound as tightly as he could. He took the rest of the blanket and wrapped Talim in it, he retrieved their packs, put them both on his back and then picked up Talim and held her just as he would have held a small baby.

_'I can't take care of a wound this deep….'_ Link whispered in his head as he started running, hoping to get out of the forest and find someone that could help. _'If only Zelda were here…. At least Talim can last for a while… but how long?'_

Link ran quickly and swiftly through the forest, he and Talim had been traveling through this forest for about a day and a half, so they had to be close to the end of it!

Link ran for ten minutes when suddenly he heard a voice…

"Stop right there!"

Link stopped and turned toward the voice, and to his surprise, he saw… Maxi?

"I had a feeling that it was you." Maxi mused with a shake of his head as he walked towards Link. "Why are you carrying her?"

"She's hurt…" Link murmured as he looked down at Talim face and bit his lip.

"What?" Maxi stepped closer and moved the blanket that she wrapped in around a bit and then moved it to where her stomach was shown. "Well… this isn't good. Follow me, there's a town nearby about a thirty walk from here. We run, and it will be ten minutes."

"Thank you." Link nodded as he followed Maxi, both of them running, Link following after Maxi as he wondered how much time Talim had… no. He would not think of that.

"This way…" Maxi would tell Link every once in a while, Link would nod although he knew that Maxi couldn't see him, and after exactly eleven minutes had passed Link stepped out of the forest and saw a small town in a small distance away, only a few lights on. They ran, and once they reached the town Maxi turned to the closest house and banged harshly on the door to where Link almost flinched.

"OPEN UP!" Maxi yelled, a middle aged woman opened the door, clearly annoyed by this sudden interruption.

"We're having dinner mind you!" The woman scolded with a pointing finger.

"Well we have a wounded girl who needs help immediately." Maxi nearly hissed back through his teeth, his patience thinning.

"What? What didn't you say so get her in here, NOW!" The woman yelled as she pulled Maxi in by his vest and looked at Link as Link followed him in. The woman gave Link a strange look and then pointed her finger to a room off a ways to the right. Link ran into that room with Maxi following along with the woman who yelled at someone that Link see:

"Get the doctor now!"

She closed the door and pointed to the only bed in the room and Link turned and placed Talim on the bed. The woman walked over, removed the blanket and removed the blanket that Link had placed there.

"Tch! Tch!" The woman shook her head rapidly. "This is not good, if the doctor doesn't get here soon…."

"I'm here what is it?" A man burst through the door, making Link jump up while he had been watching the woman fuss with Talim. He walked over to Talim, glanced at her stomach and then ordered: "I need boiled water, bandages, cream…."

The man kept on talking, but Link didn't hear a single thing that he said, instead all that he could hear was nothing, just silence as he looked at Talim's face.

"Out!" Link felt someone push him; Link looked and saw the woman shoving him and Maxi out of the room. "Out! Out! Out! No men! Only the doctor and woman are allowed!"

"Ack!" Link fell backwards out of the room, almost landing on a young little girl, maybe nine, which was flying past him with a basket of cream and bandages and a few other things that he couldn't see or recognize. He was pulled back up by Maxi, who took Link out of the hall and to a table that had food on it, and by the looks it appeared that this middle aged woman and her family had been having dinner. Maxi sat down on a chair, Link did the same after standing for a few seconds at the hall where he saw a few children running in out of the room.

"Do you think that she'll be okay?" Link asked Maxi after he had watched the children run back and forth from the room to other places for ten minutes. He turned to Maxi and saw Maxi looking at the children as well.

"I don't know really." Maxi answered with a sigh as he turned his critical eye toward Link. "What happened to her?"

"We set camp…" Link answered; remember the events that had happened in small, slow scenes. "I went to get fire wood, I was walking… heard a noise and followed it. I regret doing that now… then the noise that I heard ran off, I heard Talim yell, so I ran to help her and she was fighting something…"

"What was it?"

"I couldn't tell…" Link sighed as he closed his eyes and lowered his head. "It looked like pieces of something… I just couldn't tell."

"It's called Charade." Maxi replied, Link opened his eyes and looked up at Maxi, although he didn't keep his head too high. "At least that's what the people here call it."

"Charade?" Link asked as he blinked and then looked at the hall where a girl and someone, apparently her brother, were carrying over a boiling pot of water by the steam.

"Charade. It is believed to once be a man who was murdered a few months ago." Maxi looked at Link, and when Link saw him doing this out the corner of his eye he turned his head and faced Maxi, and the two of them looked each other strain in the eyes. "He wasn't a very rich man, but one day it was said that he met a merchant who was carrying a few pieces of something… which was, I believe, Soul Edge. He used the last of his money to buy every piece that the merchant, and although he kept it secret somehow it became known in this village that he had something valuable.

"So, one day, and gang of thieves that must have been staying in the inn pretending to be normal people went over to his home, murdered him, and then threw his body in a river nearby. The man had been able to hang onto a piece of Soul Edge, and I'm guessing that it went inside of his body, and while the man was in the river, the piece turned the man into something else, and, became Charade."

"But why did he attack Talim?" Link whispered. "I don't understand…"

"He attacked me too." Maxi admitted with a sigh. "I barely got away, it has a single eye that it controls it's body with, and it's body looks like pieces of dirt or mud dried, but when it circled around me those piece were sharp! I had been able to run away, and a few hours later that's when I met you running with Talim."

"But why did it attack you and her?" Link shook his head and gritted his teeth.

"Probably because we have piece of Soul Edge with us." Maxi scratched his head. "That's my guess. Sense the man was turned into Charade by Soul Edge it must feel like it must be reunited with the other pieces. So it attacked me to get the pieces of Soul Edge that I have, but he never got them. How many pieces do you have?"

"Just… two… Talim had one and I had one when we met, and then the two pieces fused together, Talim found another piece but we didn't see if they would fuse, we didn't try and we didn't even think about it." Link replied glumly. "Mefshrik osh!" Link cursed in Hylian so that way none of the children would hear him curse, and also simply because it made Link feel better to speak his original language. He clenched his fists looked down at his lap. "If I hadn't left… then Talim wouldn't be hurt…"

"It would have come anyway." Maxi answered. "It probably attacked Talim because she's the weakest out of you two."

"We're equal!" Link cried as he nearly glared at Maxi, although he did manage a mean look. "I'm not better then Talim, she's not better then me, we're equal!"

"Even so," Maxi replied. "No matter what you think, people are going to think that Talim is the weaker one. If you have something that you want, their going to try and get her when she's away from you. No matter what you do, they're going to try and attack her first to get her out of the way. You have to understand that."

Link looked at Maxi for a while, and then put his head in his hands.

"I know that it seems like it isn't fair," Maxi continued. "It isn't. I know that even I judged her before I saw her skills… but Link, what I'm trying to tell you, is to make sure that she's always safe."  
"Safe?" Link asked through his hands.

"Safe. I know that she can probably do things by herself, but you must take care of her. She will lose a battle someday, and when that time comes, she will need you. Guard her. Take care of her. Don't restrain her life though, just make sure, that she won't get hurt."

Link paused for a moment, letting the silence between the two of them linger.

"Protect Talim." He murmured. He looked up at Maxi, who was looking right back at him. "I will. I will always protect her when she needs me. I won't let something like this happen again."

That's it people! I hope that you enjoyed this chapter!

People: (glare)

o.O;;; Oh… for that Talim thing… yeah… well… (Runs off)

So Until Next Time,

_CrypticElf…_


	8. Revenge

Link: Let's get this chapter started! I want to see what happens!!!!

Antsy over Talim are we?

Link: What? Um… no! That's not it at all!

Riiiiiiight….

Link: No! Really! I-

Anyway, here are the answers to my reviews:

**Raven Ghost: I went to your Bio but your new e-mail wasn't there…! You like the chapter? Why thank you! Anyway, you know my e-mail, ****. Of course I remember you! Thanks for reviewing!**

**vegetarulez: Don't worry; just as I've told you before, Charade is going to pay! Thanks for reviewing!**

**half-demonwolf: Oh, I don't want this fic to end, its too much fun writing it and getting reviews! But it must come to an end… it's going to have a sequel though. HA! Thanks for reviewing!**

**Ben Stylin: Maxi isn't going to be a main character in this story don't worry! Yup, some of the reviews kinda scared me… o.O Talim's Friend REALLY freaked me out… cheese? J/K. Thanks for reviewing!**

**Talim's Friend: I can understand your hate for Talim being hurt, but don't worry; I will NOT let Talim get hurt for nothing! Talim is my favorite person, I would never hurt her without regret, and I always get revenge! I wanna have some cheese too…. Thanks for reviewing!**

**skyhopper: Soul Calibur II is a great game, you better not be a button masher though! Anyway, I'm glad that you aren't too angry with me, and I'm not that good with Link but he's still my favorite male character! By the way, if you want, you can go to and go to the forums there, my name there is Cryptic Wind, it's really easy to make an account, you just have to wait until you get the notice that your account has been activated. If you want, e-mail me at **** for help if you want some. Thanks for reviewing!**

**dragonpurity: Yes, Talim has been hurt, but I don't let her get hurt for nothing! She shall have her revenge! I make them look cuter together? Yay! Thanks for reviewing!**

**Ivmj: Cliffy? Haha! And what did Link say? Well, he said 'shit!' Sorry if you don't like me saying that, but you asked! Mwahaha! You like my story? Yay! Thanks for reviewing!**

**Daniel Fine: Eh, I have no idea what to say… thanks for reviewing!**

Dakyu: Yeah, I know that you reviewed for the other chapter but I was too lazy, I just wanted to update and get it over with, I'm sorry if I offended you really, but I just wanted to get it over with. More description with Charade? Well, I'll try to do it. Thanks for reviewing!

I own nothing of Soul Calibur II but this script is mine so if you take it I get to sue you! Would I ENJOY that!

Chapter Eight: Revenge 

Link tapped the table in a beat without any pattern as he stared at the ceiling, biting his lip.

"You've been doing that for three hours," Maxi informed Link, Link jumped and looked at him, although he didn't stop tapping. "And I'll be damned it I let you continue."

"Uh… sorry." Link replied half-heartedly as he quickly removed his hand from the table immediately. He then stared at the table, biting his lip again.

"Stop it." Maxi interrupted his thinking with a hiss.

"What?"

"You're tapping your foot."

Link looked down at the floor and saw his foot moving back and forth, hitting the floor. He blinked and stopped his movement and then came back up from the table.

"Sorry…" Link placed his head on the table, staring at the floor. After ten minutes, he felt a small, sheepish tap on his shoulder. Looking up, he saw the same little girl he had seen before that he had almost flattened when he fell back when that middle-aged woman had pushed him out of the room Talim was in. Straitening his back, he looked at the little, seven-year-old girl. "Yes?"

"What's your name?" The little girl asked, and by her tone Link knew that what she had come for had just been for her own interest.

"Link." He answered, equally sheepish.

"What's her name?"

"Her name is… Talim." Link sighed.

"Pretty." The little girl itched her nose, and then her head.

"It is isn't it?" Link asked, although he was really was saying that more to himself then the little girl, although he didn't even notice.

"Come over here!" The little girl spun around and Link also looked to see the middle aged woman in the hallway, although she was more in the doorway of the room that Talim was in.

"Me?" The little girl asked.

"No! Him!"

Link blinked and then stood up, making sure that he didn't run over the little girl as she quickly moved away. As he was walking he stopped and then looked at Maxi.

"You go." Maxi replied with a wave. "I don't even know what her mother's name is."

"I don't either." Link replied as he turned and continued over.

Once he was over to the woman, she pointed into the room as the doctor exited. Link pointed inside and the woman nodded, Link went inside and the doctor closed the door for him.

Running over to the bed, Link nearly ran into the bed that Talim was in, although he was able to stop himself just in time. He took a breath and then looked down at Talim, all that he could see was her face, the rest of her covered in a blanket. He sat down on his ankles and then put one of his hands on the bed.

"Are you alright Talim?" Link asked her in a small, gentle whisper. "That thing didn't hurt you too much did it?"

Talim only laid there, her eyelids shut softly. Link sighed and placed his head on the blanket. After a minute of being there, he lifted his head and looked at Talim's face.

"Hmm."

Link turned and saw the woman standing there in the hallway, observing him.

"Yes?" Link asked in a swallow.

"What is your name and what is hers?" The woman asked, her voice sharp and prissy.

"My name is Link, and hers is Talim." He answered as he removed his hand from the bed.

"Who are you to her?"

"Who am I?"

"Lover? Brother? Friend?" She questioned quickly as she tapped the doorknob.

"Friend." Link answered quickly, blushing madly after she said 'lover'. "Just friends."

"What happened to her?"

"We were camping in the forest, just me and her. I left for wood when she was attacked, I heard her yelling and so I ran back and drove back what was attacking her and picked her up and ran. I met the man I was with, Maxi, and he took us her to the village and then to your home." Link answered, after a small, quiet silence, Link couldn't help himself in asking: "Will she be alright?"

"She'll be fine. She's lucky though, those who meet Charade aren't as lucky as she is, or as Maxi is." The woman's voice suddenly transformed from sharp to gentle. "We usually find only dead left by him, cuts all around their bodies. Horrible."

"He used to live here?" Link asked, slightly curious as he couldn't help but look back to Talim.

"Yes, he used to live here." The woman sighed shaking her head, closing the door she walked slowly over to Link.

"Where can I find him?" He asked quickly as he looked at Talim as Link slightly twitched.

"Wherever there is a piece of an odd metal he'll be there. Blasted metal things. If you go out with a piece of strange metal he will find you, and he will sneak up on you when you least expect it." She explained as she licked her lips. "I wouldn't go after him. He will attempt to kill you, he is no longer human, so he doesn't tire, even if you manage to drive him away he will simply try and destroy you, and knowing that he couldn't beat you by battle he would try to tire you out by chasing you, to where you cannot help but fall to the ground and close your eyes. Then he will strike, and trust me, after that your eyes will never open again."

"Thank you." Link looked at Talim's face, so soft and innocent looking… now that he thought about, he had never seen her sleep before. "When do you think she'll wake?"

"Doctor doesn't know. Maybe a day, maybe a week. Unknown. But he knows that she won't be able to get up on her feet for a while with her wound." The woman turned and walked towards the door, but instead of opening it, she took a breath and faced Link again. "Do not go after Charade!"

Link only turned and looked at her, completely silent.

"Do not go after him, don't." With that said, she opened the door and exited, closing the door after her of course. Link turned and faced Talim again, gazing down protectively over her sleeping form.

"My friend," Link told her in a soft, low whisper as he bent over her ear. "I'm sorry… that I let you get hurt like that… I won't let anyone do something like this to you again. I can't and I won't… Talim… you were the first person who I met, and I thought that you were an enemy… but when we actually started talking, you didn't immediately judge me… in fact, if it had been anyone else, I know that they would have just instantly tried to kill me, all because of my ears. But you didn't, when you saw my ears you still looked at me as another normal person, not some freak.

"Won't you wake up Talim? Please…." Link lifted his face up and looked at down at Talim, after looking at her for a few seconds, he took his hand and lightly touched her cheek. "Although the doctor said that you'd be okay, I can't help but worry… that… that… that you'll never…." Link bit his lip, and he felt small, burning tears at the edge of his eyes, so close to spilling. "Wake up…."

Link sniffled and then wiped his eyes, almost feeling foolish. The last time that he had cried had been when he had just learned that Sheik was really Zelda and then Ganondorf had suddenly taken Zelda away from him… that's when he had cried, he had been so afraid, so scared that he would never be able to see her again because she would die. It had been so long since that had happened… he had almost cried before he had left for this world, because he would have to leave Hyrule, Zelda, Epona, Malon, Saria, he even missed Ruto, who never ceased to flirt with him in an annoying manner. But it wasn't the same, although he wouldn't be able to see them again, he knew that they weren't in any danger so even if he left he could be satisfied with knowing that they were safe and sound. Not in danger, but safe. That's what he wanted, that's all that he wanted, even if he could never see them again, as long as they were safe that's all that mattered.

"Don't go away, please don't." Link begged, and although he had just ridiculed himself he couldn't help it. "You'll the only person that I know that I can trust in this world, if you go… I'll really be _alone."_

Link stared at Talim, just wishing that she would suddenly just jump up and tell him that she would be fine and that everything would be all right, but she didn't. She just laid there, her nostrils slightly moving as she continued breathing.

"Hey you there."

Link turned around and saw Maxi who was leaning against the doorway.

"You've been in here for over three hours." Maxi informed him, although it wasn't in an annoyed tone.

"Sorry." Link replied, although he didn't make a move to get up.

"No need to be sorry. I just think that you should at least eat something."

"I'm not hungry."

"The hell you aren't." Maxi tossed Link a small biscuit, but unfortunately for Link, he didn't expect it and so instead of catching it, it hit his head and then landed on the floor. "Nice catch."

Link picked up the biscuit and just placed it on his lap.

"I'll eat later. Thanks." Link slightly smiled, although it soon faded.

"Eat it now or else I swear that I'll come over and start beating you."

Link felt a sweat drop go down his head and he took the biscuit and bit into it quickly.

"There you go," Maxi mused with a wave. "Not so hard is it?"

"Not when someone's threatening you." Link replied as took the biscuit out of his mouth and turned to Talim.

"Funny." Maxi retorted dryly. "I know what you're thinking, you want to go after Charade."

"Yes." Link answered with a sigh as he looked at Talim's face. "I can't let him get away with this, I won't let him hurt Talim and get away with it."

"Revenge then?" Maxi asked as he slightly moved his head. "Of course, what else would it be? But let me ask you something, even if you were able to drive it away before are you sure that you can beat it?"

"Yes."

"Alright, do what you want, but how do you think Talim would feel if she woke up and weren't there right there? She'd worry."

"I know that she would," Link turned and faced Maxi again. "But it's better that I defeat Charade then being here."

"Alright, your choice, not mine." Maxi raised his arms and then walked out of the room closing the door behind him.

Link turned to Talim and then lay down on the floor, his legs nearly creaking from being in that position for such a long time. Link got into a comfortable position on the floor, closed his eyes, and fell strait into the deep tides of the sea of sleep, as Zelda's voice floated into his head, singing a poem that she had always sung when she was in her garden:

_Take my hand_

_Make sure not to let it go…_

_If you do_

_Will you make sure to come back?_

_My feelings for you_

_Can't be compared_

_I sing this song_

_In memory of you_

_You'll always be inside my heart_

_No matter how far we go_

_We'll always be together, forever_

_Always_

_I feel my heart beat_

_And think of you_

_I twirl around in the midnight sky_

_Hoping that you will someday find me_

_Will you see me in that ocean of black?_

_If you do will you come to find me?_

_I don't want to go_

_But the tides are pulling me away…_

_Although we may not be together_

_Right in front of each other_

_We'll still be together _

_Inside of our hearts…_

_I won't ever forget you_

_Will you ever forget me?_

_Like an old portrait that once shined in glory_

_But had eventually faded away into dust…_

_Remember me_

_Never forget me_

_And all of the times that we had together…_

_I won't forget, you…_

_Will you ever forget me?_

**Author's Note: This song is also mine, because I created it without any help nor did I take it, it came completely from my own mind, so if you take anything from this poem I _will_ sue you! Got that? Good.**

Light streamed in through a window across the room and strait into Link's face, he blinked for a few moments before turning over and stretching and then sitting up as he rubbed his eyes.

"So you're awake."

Link jumped and looked at Maxi, who was sitting on a chair, right in front of him, staring at him.

"Gah!" Link cried as he jumped, he shook his head and frowned. "What was that for?"

"Nothing." Maxi smiled and chuckled as he leaned back and then took a look at Talim, who of course, was still sleeping. "Simply teasing the young man with the big green hat."

Link frowned and touched his hat gently and then turned to Talim, who looked a little… sweaty…

"What's wrong with her?" Link asked as he got onto his knees and bent towards Talim.

"Beats me," Maxi answered with a sigh. "I came in her and she was like that."

Link bit his lip, then, he looked towards the window and an idea struck his head. He got up, walked over to the window and opened it, and instantly a blast of wind flew through the window, passing Link gently but knocking Maxi right out of his chair backwards as it circled Talim and then settled down but continued to flow peacefully through the room, especially over Talim.

"What the hell was that?" Maxi cursed loudly as flipped back off of the floor.

"The Wind." Link answered with a smile as he looked at Maxi who was clearly frustrated and confused.

"That was some freak wind…" Maxi grumbled as he gently moved his hair. "How'd that happen?"

"I guess that it really wanted in." Link answered as he walked back to Talim, the wind gently sweeping around him, and he guessed that that was the Wind telling him 'thank you.'

"Right…" Maxi fussed as pushed his chair back up. "And why does it feel like the wind is still blowing through this room?"

"Because it is." Link stretched around, lifting his arms up and then touching the floor.

"_Sure_ it is…" Maxi sat down in his chair, giving the room, or the wind, an odd look. "Link, come on, why do you think it's still going through this room?"

"Because it wants to." Link answered with a laugh, and it wasn't a laugh as in: "Duh! Of course!" but it was a laugh because he knew that Maxi would never believe anything that he said.

Maxi shook his head, believing that the laugh that Link made was in a teasing manner.

"I believe that Soul Edge can manipulate minds and eat souls, but quiet frankly I don't believe that the wind actually has a mind of its own… I mean, that's complete cow dung."

Link shook his head, just wondering what Talim would have done if she had heard him say that. He knew that she liked to avoid fighting like that, but he knew that the wind was sacred to her. Hmm… that was a good question….

Link stopped stretching and went over to Talim and sat on his ankles again. Then, a thought dawned him, and so Link took off both packs that were resting on his back, opened Talim's, and looked for that certain item that he was looking for.

"What are you looking for?" Maxi asked as he bent over in interest.

"The pieces of Soul Edge… that… me and Talim have collected… she has them all…" Link moved around her things more rapidly, stopped and looked at Maxi. "They're not in here."

Maxi looked in Link in pity and leaned back in his chair.

"Looks like Charade got what he wanted." Maxi sighed as he leaned back in his chair.

"But if I don't have a piece of Soul Edge, then I won't be able to find Charade." Link complained as he looked strait at Maxi, Maxi returned his look.

"I will not give you any pieces of Soul Edge that I've collected!" Maxi cried after he realized why Link was looking at him.

"But I have to defeat Charade!" Link cried as well as he kept on looking at Maxi.

"No."

"Where do you keep them?"

"In my pack, and you aren't going to take them."

Link paused, looking at Talim.

"But what about Talim?" Link asked Maxi in a depressed tone.

"She's fine and Charade won't bother her again." Maxi answered, then, Maxi's look changed from angry to completely confused. "What's that?"

Link looked at Maxi, and Maxi looked at him.

"There's something in your hat!" Maxi exclaimed as he bent forward and attempted to grab Link's hat, but Link was able to go back fast enough.

"What are you talking about?" Link asked him, as Maxi stared at him.

"There are two things that are poking the side of your hat!"

Link blushed and realized that those were his ears, touching his hat he realized that when he had been asking Maxi for a piece of Soul Edge that his ears must have gone down, something that happened whenever he would beg Zelda for something, or the cook for an extra piece of food. His ears immediately flew up, and Maxi jumped away, falling back in his chair again.

"What was that?" Maxi asked as he rolled off of the fallen chair and stood back up. "It moved!"

"It wasn't anything." Link answered, but unfortunately for Link, in occasions like this he wasn't a very good liar.

"You're lying! What was it?"

Link felt a sweat drop go down his head as he backed away from Maxi who was walking towards him slowly.

"It was… nothing…." Link stood up and walked backwards, he kept on going until his back hit the wall, so he went to the left and kept on going as Maxi kept going forward. Link looked at Maxi, and then, he saw Maxi's pack on the floor next to the chair that Maxi had been sitting in.

_'In my pack, and you aren't going to take them.'_

Link bit his lip and kept on going in a circle around them room, then, once he reached Maxi's pack, he moved a little bit more to where Maxi wasn't nearby the way to the door, reached down, grabbed Maxi's pack and raced out of them room, nearly opening the door into the same little girl's face that he had almost landed on earlier, and apologized to her as he ran out of the house and back to the forest that he and Talim had been in before Talim had been attacked as he listened to Maxi yell curses at him from the houses door, and soon after he heard Maxi yell as he heard the middle aged woman bang Maxi on the head with a pan for cursing in front of children.

Link ran even when he was in the forest until he felt that he was safe from Maxi getting him again, which was a while sense Maxi's cursing had made Link a little bit more frightened.

Link sat down as he took in deep breaths, then, after he felt better, he reached into Maxi's pack, and searched his pack until he pulled out a piece of Soul Edge. Link sighed and put the piece back in Maxi's pack, then, after a moment of thought, he realized that what he had just done was something that Talim would have done.

_'It had to be done, or else we won't be able to find Charade, time called for it.'_ Link could hear her say those words as he smiled meekly, but as he thought of Talim he thought of her being in that bed, wounded….

"Charade…" Link gritted his teeth and clenched his fists, then, he stood up and looked around, wondering if Charade had already found him.

Link looked, but he felt not a single eye on him. Link wondered if he should stay where he was, or walk around, either way Charade would find him, so what was the difference?

If Link could get Charade out of the forest that would help, that way their fighting space wouldn't be too limited and Link could attack Charade better. Although Link had fought many battles in a forest, he knew that he would be able to battle better with more space.

Link looked around himself and then closed his eyes, wondering if he would be able to hear his way out of the forest, finding that it didn't work, Link looked back to where he could see his footprints and where he had run before just a few minutes ago. He started walking, taking the path that he had made, and hoping that he wouldn't run into Maxi on his way.

Link eventually found the edge of the forest, but not wanting Maxi to see him the instant Maxi looked outside, he traveled on the edge, making sure to listen to the sounds around him, a twig snap, a rustle, anything that would tell him that Charade was behind him. Link traveled for an hour on the side of the forest until he stepped out of the border line between grass and forest. Link kept on walking until he felt that he was a good distance until he turned around.

Nothing, there wasn't anything there.

Link shook his head and sat down and pulled out a piece of Soul Edge that Maxi had and started poking it and messing with it. From his experience, Link knew that it wasn't a smart thing to start screwing around with majorly evil items filled with black magic and could steal his soul, but he wanted to make sure that Charade knew where he was, so he wanted this piece of Soul Edge to send out a signal, because from what Link knew Soul Edge had somewhat of a mind, so if he bothered wouldn't the piece of Soul Edge get irritated and a special aura form around it or something?

After fifteen minutes of messing around with the piece, Link suddenly heard a _crack!_ Link immediately stopped and looked towards the source as he put the piece of Soul Edge into Maxi's pack and then swung Maxi's pack onto his back, making sure that it couldn't fall off of his shoulders. Link stood up, knees bent, hand on hilt, closing his eyes to listen for anything that came his way.

_Scratch!_

Link opened his eyes and pulled his sword out of his sheath and blocked the down coming Charade with his shield. Then, Link took his shield down and then started attacking Charade with swift slashes from his sword, but no matter how much Link tried to hit Charade, Charade didn't seem to be effected as Link slashed away at Charade's floating body parts. Link looked at the floating pieces of the body, and they did indeed appear to be like dry slabs of mud without any cracks, so they appeared to look more like clay.

Then, the pieces suddenly broke apart from their grouping and spread out around Link and then started circling him, faster and faster until they almost looked like small comets circling around Link. Link cursed as the first one suddenly swooped forward and took a scratch on his leg, and then another, this time at his face. Charade's little 'circle of death' closed in on Link until there wasn't a place for Link to even move at all, and as it closed in on him, Link saw it, a single purple floating eye about twenty-five feet up in the air looking strait at him.

Third cut! Fourth cut! Fifth cut! Charade close in fully on Link and now Link was being completely ambushed by Charade's floating body pieces as they moved in a rapid motion around him. Link felt long, thin scratches all over his body, Link gritted his teeth, gripped his sword harder, bent down, and then he shot up, swinging his sword around him as he twirled up like a wild bird going in tight circular motions.

Link landed as most of the pieces of Charade fell back from Link's sudden attack, but many pieces simply continued going around Link and most of the pieces that he had hit were just coming back up. Link bit his lip and ran off the right, and looked up at the floating eye.

Was that how Charade was controlling himself? That one eye? Is was the only vulnerable looking part, but it was too high for Link to hit with his sword, Link would have to use his bow and arrow in order to hit it, but Link didn't take his bow and arrow from Hyrule with him and he hadn't bothered to try and buy one from a town at all. But Link couldn't keep on running like this, he had to hit that one floating eye, and hopefully if he did so that would put an end to Charade!

Link ran around in a circle around the eye in the air as Charade's body chased after him. Link took a second of time, just a single second, and thought of what Talim would do if she were in this situation.

"Wind," Link called out, hoping that the Wind would actually respond to him and that the Wind would be able to help him although he didn't have to power like Talim did to connect with the Wind mind to mind. "Please, help me, please push me up to Charade's eye so that way I can attack him and be able to get revenge for Talim!"

_'Request granted.'_

Just as Link heard the Wind's voice, a surging blast of wind sent him soaring up towards Charade eye, Link took his blade, raised it, letting his shield drop to the ground, and….

So Until Next Time,

_CrypticElf…_


	9. Pain

Hellllllllo my beloved reviewers! I'm sorry about not updating…. You see, I haven't been able to get on in fear of getting a virus… we never did get a firewall, but it seems that AOL has done something because my computer has stopped acting up. Well, even AFTER it stopped acting up and working correctly I just couldn't get the chapter starting correctly and just lost my erge to write completely and just starting duking it out on FFX and .hackMUTATION and Dynasty Warriors 4 on my PS2. Some girl I am, huh?

**Links#1girl: I'm glad that you like my fanfiction so much! And if you get any of your friends to read my fanfiction as well I hope that they'll enjoy it as well! Thanks for reviewing!**

**Electric Ammo: Not much to say to you. XD Thanks for reviewing anyway!**

**dragonpurity: I love making cliffies! Mwehehee…. I'm so happy that you love my fanfiction so much; I'm ecstatic! Thanks for reviewing!**

**Dakyu: It was a cool chapter? Neato! Thanks! And I never used to respond to my reviewers in my other stories, so, this is a first time. I love it when people respond to my review, so I decided that I should respond to my reviewers sense I love it so much. Heh. Thanks for reviewing!**

**Ben Stylin: You didn't understand the poem? Well, the poem is talking about two people who were once in love but they had to separate and one of them is asking the other is they'll always remember them and how deep their love is. (Let's pretend that it's the girl that has made the poem) The girl who is singing the poem will always remember the boy that they were in love with, but is unsure if they'll ever see the boy again and if the boy will remember her. It's a poem about love and what time can do, sometimes time can make things fade away or make it stronger. It isn't a very good poem, and it's supposed to be a little depressing, but I'm not sure if I made it clear enough… oh well, thanks for reviewing!**

**Lvmj: I got your name wrong? Oops… you'll have to forgive me for that mistake! You'd forgive Talim, wouldn't you? (Sweat drops) I've only read one Talim and Link fanfiction, and it was that fanfiction that inspired me to write this one. Well, I've actually read two Talim and Link fanfictions… but that second one… was… Eeww… someone told me about 'a horrible Talim/Link fic' and gave me the link to it sense I asked for it… I wish I never did. I was too late to realize that it was a horrible, gross fanfiction… I'm only thirteen! Whyyyyy did I ask for the link…? ;; Thanks for reviewing… (shudders)**

**Hououza: Well, Link has always been reckless hasn't he? You'll see what happens in this next chapter! Thanks for reviewing!**

**Daniel Fine: I'm glad that you enjoyed the chapter so much! Yes, Link is falling for Talim and he doesn't even realize it! Mwahahaaa! Well, anyone can talk to the Wind really, but you have to be able to believe in it deeply enough to do so. Link believed Talim that she could talk to the Wind, but he never believed in it deeply enough and he had never tried to before. To talk to the Wind you have to believe in it and also be able to concentrate and have a special gift to do so. Talim had been trained and obtained the power and will to talk to the wind, and Link has the power because he's used to being around magic and using it a little, so all that he had to do was believe. 'If you just believe!' XD I'm glad that you liked my poem; another reviewer of mine said that they didn't understand what it meant… TT I explained it to them, I hope that they understand this time… Thanks for reviewing! **

**Talim's friend: I finally updated! You should be happy! ( Why must I do this to you? To be cruel, why else? Mwhehee… Thanks for reviewing!**

**Grunt Hunter Croix: I make lots of my reviewers suffer! Just look at Talim's friend! Thanks for reviewing!**

**Sora the Taske: I know that the cliffy was horrible, and I finished off the cliffy with 'and…!' just to make people ticked off! I knew that my reviews would all go insane with that ending! Thanks for reviewing!  
**

**Jarock16: I wish that I could use all of the three exclusive characters at once…! TT Well, here's chapter nine! Thanks for reviewing!**

**libby: You like how I gave Charade his own fighting style? Lol, I hate how he and Necrid just take everyone else's moves… + I hope that you'll enjoy my sequel to this fanfiction! But I don't know if I should or not, I'm going to wait for SCIII to come out. And SCIII is coming out sometime this year I believe, you should go and check out the forums of and there are some links there and you can see the three new characters and what Mitsu and Taki are going to look like. The other characters haven't come out yet sadly, but someone told me that all of the SCII characters are coming into SCIII, so Talim will be back! I want to see what she's going to look liiiike… (Sobs) Thanks for (sniffle) (sniffle) reviewing…(sniffle) **

**Thirdman: Yup, an ending like that, and here's what's happens! Thanks for reviewing!**

**Ariss: Here's the update, enjoy! Thanks for reviewing!**

**vegeta rulez: Cliffy for you! Plenty for you! Mwahaha…. And yes, I do get ticked off when people tell me things like: (Pinches Cryptic's cheeks) well, actually only one other person does that to me and whenever I get pissed off at him he only laughs and says that I sound cute… OO+ He wouldn't be saying that if he wasn't an internet friend! But then again, I'm actually incredibly shy offline and would never say anything like that, I'd get awkward and blush… + I let this side out online, never offline! Thanks for reviewing!**

**Queen of the Moon: You have a mean computer! ( Thanks for reviewing!**

**brandon: I just had to put a cliff there, where else? Mwahahahaa… Thanks for reviewing!**

**dp03kf: You hate me? (Big tearful puppy eyes) Buuuut all that I want to do is bring you a good fanfictiiiioooooonnn…! (Starts sobbing) Thanks… (Between sobs) for… (Sob) reviewiiiiinnnnngggg….! (JK, lol.)**

**Super Davis: I've gotten better? Wh00t! This is something to celebrate over! Thanks for reviewing!**

**skyhopper: My review button is working fine, it must just be yours, I hope that it gets fixed. As for that thing about logging in, I was talking about you could go there and have an account just as long as you're older then thirteen. Thanks for reviewing!**

**redskin122004: I stopped right when it was getting good? That's where you should always put a cliffy! And you're the one that got me to start writing because a friend asked me start up again and then you did, so I got back into the writing mood again. Thanks for reviewing!**

**kat-SageOfWisdom-princessZel: I'm glad that you enjoyed my chapter, here's the next one, thanks for reviewing!**

**maw: Linky-poo has droopy ears! Aww! Lol, thanks for reviewing!**

**burningnightmare 59: I'll try and read your fanfiction if it's in a subject that I know, it must be a comedy. I'll try and tell my friends if they know what the subject is as well. Thanks for reviewing!**

**Chibi Fizz: Is… that… really… you…? Seriously? Dude, you were my favorite reviewer for my GoldenSun fanfiction; I can't believe that you're reading this one! OO Thanks for reviewing!**

Dear lord… answering to twenty-six reviewers takes up a lot of time; I just used up three pages! That took waaay too long… but still, I enjoy getting everyone's reviews, they bring me joy, the more the better!

This chapter is dedicated to Jarock16; I wouldn't be able to do this fanfiction without you!

Link: Let's just get the chapter started already! Gees…

Shut up…

Link: Nope.

… mft…

**Chapter Nine: Pain**

Link ran around in a circle around the eye in the air as Charade's body chased after him. Link took a second of time, just a single second, and thought of what Talim would do if she were in this situation.

"Wind," Link called out, hoping that the Wind would actually respond to him and that the Wind would be able to help him although he didn't have the power like Talim did to connect with the Wind mind to mind. "Please, help me, please push me up to Charade's eye so that way I can attack him and be able to get revenge for Talim!"

_'Request granted.'_

Just as Link heard the Wind's voice, a surging blast of wind sent him soaring up to Charade's eye, Link took his blade, raised it, letting his shield drop to the ground, and…

"This is for Talim!" Link cried as he brought his sword down towards Charade's single, purple eye. As Link brought his sword down, he could see Charade looking at the blade, and that the eye was actually widening in terror. It was slow, incredibly slow, but for some reason in those few seconds of time Link could see it as if time was moving slower.

Link's sword met Charade's fleshy eye, and his sword went strait through as if his eye was cool, sweet butter and the sword was a knife just held over a flame. Link's sword passed through the eye, and only when his sword was finished going through the soft, vulnerable flesh did the eye actually begin to fall apart.

Link started going down, down, down, down, down each and single foot of those twenty-five feet that he had traveled up. Link landed, but neglected to do a roll when he landed and so when he did so he felt hot-irons of pain ripple up instantly through his bones and muscles. He gritted his teeth and made a small cry of pain and dropped his sword and sat back on his bottom.

Link grabbed his ankles and bent over as the pain came in frequent pulses, powerful, flaming pulses.

_Ploop… ploop… plop…_

The left over remains of Charade's eye landed just in front of Link, and he had to jump back, getting some Charade on his left boot. He wiped it off with his hand and then looked around, wanting to get up but knowing that his ankles would probably give out on him if he tried to do so. That had been no kiddy fall, and if he had been smart enough to roll then he might be fine, but no, his stupid department had to take over!

"Mefrek yu…" (&# it…) Link cursed lowly in his breath as he rubbed his ankles.

"THERE YOU ARE YOU THEIF!"  
Link turned his back and saw Maxi, charging towards him. Link didn't even bother to move, there would be no point. Maxi jumped up, and landed on top of Link, pinning him down.

"Hi Maxi." Link greeted lazily as if nothing had happened.

"You moron! Do you realize how long I've been looking?" Maxi exclaimed through gritted teeth and a tight grip on Link's collar with both hands.

"No, not really."

"You idiot! Charade might come any minute now thanks to you!"

"He's dead, I killed him." Link replied as he looked at Maxi, Maxi stared at him for a few moments, and Link repeated: "Charade is dead, I defeated him."

"You beat Charade? How?"

"Trick that Talim taught me."

"Trick? If she had used that trick before the she wouldn't be wounded!"

"Whatever you say…" Link laid his head back and sighed quietly.

Link was sitting next to Talim's bed quietly after Maxi had forced Link to get up from the ground and start walking back. Maxi was outside of the room, and where outside of the room Link didn't know, but quite frankly he didn't care either. All that he cared about was being there, right next to Talim as she slept quietly.

"I beat him," Link started talking to Talim, even though he knew that she couldn't hear a word that he was telling to her. "I beat Charade, but I think that you would have done better then I ever could. I wish that you had been there…" Link paused as he sat on the chair that was pulled up to Talim's bed. "It would have been easier. I used to be able to fight so well by myself without needing anyone's help, but my battle just now was so… difficult. I don't know why it was. I was doing fine, but for some reason it just felt harder because you weren't there, you weren't watching me…"

Link blinked and then closed his eyes and laughed lowly at himself for a moment before he went on. "I sound stupid, don't I?"

Talim didn't reply, but of course Link didn't think that she would have, but he was half expecting her to get up out of the bed and declare that it was time to get going but if he wanted to stay longer that they could. How could she be that way? How could she let others do what they wanted and not say anything about what she wanted?

Link had never thought about that, he was used to Zelda, Ruto, or Malon to just tell him what they wanted and for him to go and do it. But he just realized that Talim had never asked him for anything… never. Why was that so? Link had never asked for anything, but that was because… because of what? Was he more like Talim then he thought he was? Or perhaps he just felt like he had never asked for anything but he really had before…?

"Talim?" Link looked at her more intensely, and couldn't help but ask: "Why don't you ever ask for anything?"

Link sighed and shook his head and leaned back in the chair and put his hands on his head, making sure that his hat wouldn't fall off while doing so. He wished that she would just… get up… wake up… _be better…_

_'Remain hopeful.'_

Link jumped up as he heard a lifting, enchanted voice go through his head.

_'It is all right, I am the Wind, I simply wanted to remind you to remain positive and know that Talim will be better. What you did was both heroic and naïve, but it was for the best, and although you don't realize it you have just rid this village of a murderer, even though you were thinking of Talim the whole time. Be careful, many dangers are always lurking around the corner for you, and Talim. Guard Talim, but do not cage her like a bird, in order for a bird to be happy it must be able to fly, and only if the bird loves the one who cares for it will it come back. Guard her and let her guard you, become a team, become one. I bid you farewell until the next time you need my aid, just ask and I will be there to do whatever I can.'_

"Thank you…" That was all that Link was able to say, or mumble would be better. The Wind didn't leave the room, but spun gently around Talim.

Spread your wings and learn to fly, find your peace within the sky… 

Link remained by Talim's bedside for two more days, and on the second Link had been laying on the floor next to her bed, sleeping silently, his sword in his sheath laying by his side, including Talim's Elbow Blades.

Something touched Link's face, or poked it was more appropriate to say, and when Link looked up he saw that Talim's hand was hovering right above his face. He blinked and shrugged, sitting up he picked up Talim's hand gently and put it back up on the bed where it had fallen from. He had just laid back down when he felt her hand land on his chest. He sighed and lifted up her hand and placed it back on the bed, this time he didn't bother to sit up. He closed his eyes, and after about a minute had passed he was just about to fall back asleep when her hand landed and smacked his face again.

Link sighed in annoyance and picked Talim's hand back up and sat up and was about to put it back when he realized that there was a small, amused chuckled coming from Talim's throat. Looked at her, he saw that Talim's eyes were opened, laughing at him.

"Talim!" Link jumped up and smiled as he looked at her. "You're awake!"

Talim did a simple, sleepy smile.

"I'm sorry for getting hurt." Talim stopped smiling and turned her head.

"No, no, it's okay."

"No it's not, because I was too stupid I got in your way and made you wait, now it'll take even longer to find Soul Edge, and it's all because of me. A wound like this could take more then six weeks to heal."

Link bit his lips as he realized that she was right, but then he answered: "If it takes that long to heal, then I'll wait."

"You can't." Talim looked at him sternly, "You have to leave without me."

"No!" Link exclaimed as he quickly shook his head

"Yes, you have to. Link, this isn't about you and me, it's about destroying Soul Edge even if one of use has to die." Talim sniffled, and turning back towards him Link could see the tears that were building out of the corners of her eyes. "You have to leave _without _me."

"I couldn't Talim." Link whispered, almost hoarsely. "I couldn't."

"Why?" Talim asked him as the tears were already on the bridge of breaking.

"Because you're the only person that I have here in a world that is so strange to me." Link answered quietly as he looked her strait in the eyes. "You're the only person that I **know** that I can trust. I don't know this world, I only know you."

"Link, you have to go." Talim blinked away her tears quickly. "I'm just as blind as you are. When I left my village, I had never gone further then a mile away from my old home. And even though I was born on this Earth, I don't know anything about it. When I left my village it was too strange to me, too different from what I was used to. People were rude to me, and other warriors would laugh at my size. And then I met you, and then it seemed like when I met you, everyone started to be kind. Trust me Link, I don't want you to go and leave me, and if you were in a situation like this I would never want to leave you. But it sounds too selfish to me, not helping others simply because I wanted to stay by you. You have to go Link, not for me, but for the other people who are going to be mercilessly slaughtered if Soul Edge becomes strong enough. Do it for people who wouldn't stand a chance against the evil of Soul Edge, do it for the crippled and those who are too ill to even get out of bed. You have to."

Link paused as he listened to Talim say this to him, and he knew that she was right, it did sound selfish in an essence. But at that moment, he almost didn't care that it was selfish of him, all that he wanted to do was to stay there, by Talim, waiting until she was to heal to start their journey together again. But those people, when she had said that, he thought of Saria, Malone, even Ruto, and in a small way Zelda, although she was stubborn and tough enough to keep herself out of trouble most of the time. Would they all really die, just because he wanted to stay with someone?

"Link, please." Talim looked at him, and Link couldn't help but look away from her. "Think about it."

Link had thought about it, he thought about it all night and ended up getting no sleep after that, he had had his meeting with Talim at about four in the morning. And just before sunrise, he had gotten up from the floor next to Talim's bed and had gone out of the house and traveled a little ways of town and watched the sun rise from the mystic horizon as he sat down and made a small comfortable place for him in the grass. The sun was halfway up when he heard footsteps behind him, turning; he saw that it was Maxi.

"What are you doing out here?" Maxi asked as he sat down next to Link.

"I'm thinking." Link replied, and by the way that he had said it Maxi could tell that asking what was wrong wouldn't do anything.

"Nice sunrise," Maxi waved to the sun and smiled. He looked back at Link and saw that Link wasn't even trying to crack a smile, let alone look at him. Well, he might as well ask! "Link, what's wrong?"

"Nothing." Link answered in monotone, the only movement that he made was a blink.

"That's a lie, stop being naïve and tell me."

Link turned and looked at Maxi, then just looked away again.

"What?" Maxi demanded, starting to get irritated. "Tell me what's wrong, it isn't going to kill anything."

Sighing, Link answered simply: "Talim wants me to leave and continue without her."

Maxi paused before replying, trying to figure out what he could say, after a few moments of thought, he replied: "Why is that… so bad?"

"I don't know this place." Link sighed and shook his head.

"I don't think that she knows this place either."

"I know that, she said that to me, but…" Link bit his lip and slightly closed his eyes.

"But what?" Maxi asked as he looked at Link. "I still want to stop you from trying to destroy Soul Edge, but I know that you're so determined to do so that you wouldn't let me stand in your way if I became a serious threat. Link, Talim is your traveling partner, if you two had actually destroyed Soul Edge together would you two still stay together? Sure as friends, but she has a home to go back to, and so do you."

"No, we don't." Link almost felt a slight anger boil inside of him, and although he didn't know why, he also thought that it was because he hated how Maxi was telling him these things when he knew so little about him and Talim. "I can't get back to my home, and Talim was shunned and was thrown out of her village. Neither of us have homes; the only thing that we have is one another. Before Talim left her village for the first time she had never been a mile away from it, she didn't know anything about the outside lands outside of the walls of her house. I'm much like her, only I wasn't kicked out…" Link looked over at Maxi, who wasn't even looking at Link any longer. "If I leave her, I'll be leaving the only thing that's precious to me."

"Link… are you and Talim, more then friends?"

"What? You mean are we love?" Link blinked and shock and shook his head quickly. "No, it isn't that, we're just really great friends."

"I see, I'm sorry, I misunderstood." Maxi did another pause, which was starting to irritate Link. "Link, you need to understand that many things in life aren't fair. There are times when things are taken away from you, you need to learn about loss."

Link gritted his teeth and couldn't help but turn his hand into a tight fist.

"I know what loss is!" Link couldn't help but yell at Maxi; he stood up from his seat on the ground. "You have no idea what I've gone through! Do you have any idea what it's like to feel like you know who you are and then suddenly find out that you're nothing that you think you are?" Link's mind flashed back from the time that he had woken up from those seven years of sleep and found that he had a man's body, not a child's body. And then when the Deku Seed Tree had told him that he was actually Hylian, not Kokori. "To have to save so many, and everything depends on you, no one else?" He thought of all of Hyrule, everyone depending on him.

"And then when you finally settle in and get comfort from what you have you have to leave again and learn that you can never come back?" At that moment, the first face that he saw was Zelda's, his dear sister whom he loved so much and would think of her everyday until he died, and if he died before Zelda did he wait for her, and he hoped that if she died first that she would wait for him as well. "And now, I have to leave the only person that I can trust and talk to, the only person that I know that I can hold onto? I can't _do that!"_

Link just turned and ran, and although he knew that running away was being childish at that very moment he couldn't think of anything else to do after saying all of that to Maxi. He ran, he ran back into the forest and finally stopped after he suddenly felt safe and secure.

He stopped and sat down on the dirt, leaning on a random tree trunk. He sat there silently, then after a few minutes of staying in the same position he brought his knees up to his chest and placed his forehead on his knees. Closing his eyes, he could see Zelda's face, then Saria's, Malon's, at a moment Ruto's, and many other faces, he even saw Mido's. And then lastly there was Talim's, the only person that he had left, and she was telling him that he had to go on without her, it was almost in a strange way that had happened, because it was almost just like how he had to leave Hyrule without Zelda or any of his friend's or people that he knew and know that he could never come back.

He blinked, and felt a small, single tear fell down, he lifted his head in shock and felt his face, where it was lightly damp and he realized that he had been crying even before he had noticed the tear that had fallen. He shook his head, and leaned back and looked up at the leaves, and for a moment, pretended that he was in Kokori forest.

_So Until Next Time,_

_CrypticElf…_


	10. Painful Tears

Hello all of my wonderful reviewers! I hope that you enjoy this new chapter.

**vegeta rulez: YOU SUCK! (Sobs) Just kidding, I don't know what's wrong with try going to soulcalibur3. it's the SCIII website.**

**dp03kf: It's okay, my tears have been dried! Thank for reviewing.**

**Super Davis: Thank you for your insight, and actually, I've been saving the Wind for more. And it's funny that you call the Wind 'he' because for some reason I've always called the Wind 'she', and why, I have no idea. I hope that my writing has matured, I want it to. Thank you for still reading this fanfiction, it has really helped! Thanks for reviewing.**

**Ben Stylin: That's IT? That's all that you're going to say? I feel…. Wounded… Just kidding! Thanks for reviewing.**

**Hylian Dragoness: Oh, why hello! I LOVE your new name, and why I haven't any idea. You should make your own account, well, if you want to write stories, it does annoy me when people join and then they don't even have any fics up! But, that's their choice, isn't it? And besides, it IS cool to know that you're a member of the site. XD Thanks for reviewing.**

**redskin122004: Well, I still wouldn't give you the link this ugly Talim/Link fic, but even if I wanted to I couldn't anymore. has apparently been shut down or something weird like, and I had the link on the website. Thanks for reviewing.**

**Dakyu: You don't understand why Talim wants Link to go? (Falls over) Oh well…. That'd be my fault for not making it clearer. I'm going to have more action, but I don't know when. I'm the writer and I don't even know? That's odd… thanks for reviewing.**

**stuck-in-a-tree: You've just given me an idea for romance! Thanks for reviewing.**

**A irritated Talim's Friend: That 'a' shouldn't be 'a' it's should 'an'. That's all that I have to say, besides thank you for the review. (Sucker.)**

**Massacre-of-Flies: Your review game me the most will power and courage and steam! I hope that I can make each chapter better then the other, thank you so much for your review! (Also, interesting name you have there.)**

**Star Swordsman: Your review has defiantly given me courage and strength, thank you so much! Your review has truly helped me. Thank you for reviewing.**

**L.V.M.J: I don't have the link any longer, but the fic has now been horribly printed into my mind. (Shivers) Thank you for reviewing.**

**AnimeDutchess: Why, hello. Have you reviewed for any of my other fics? Your name sounds familiar. Well, here's the chapter that you and my other faithful reviewers wanted! Thanks for reviewing.**

**The Writing Bee: Of course I'm insane! MWAHAHAHAHAHAAA! Thank you for giving me _two_ reviews.**

There are all of my review answers… phew.

This chapter isn't going to have any fighting in it, at all. This chapter is to conscentrate on Talim's and Link's relationship together.

**Chapter Ten: Painful Tears**

Link sat there, underneath the tree, looking up at the sunlight that glimmered there through them. The light reminded him of his dear friend Navi, even though the light wasn't white, it still seemed as if she was right there. He wanted to reach out, and call for her. She was the one friend that had stayed with him all through his life and had never left him.

"But I WANT to go!" Navi screamed wildly as she smacked herself against Link by flying into his chest. After a few more seconds, he caught her and held her up as he sat there in front of the Forest Temple on the stump that Saria often sat on herself.

_"You can't Navi." Link stated firmly, his voice filled with sorrow and depression._

_"Yes I can! I'm _your _fairy! I'm have to be there next to you…" A small, sparkling tear fell from her eyes, and Link could barely see it, but he could feel it as if it were a waterfall beating against his palm._

_"Nayru says that you'll die, and I can't let you die." Link's head hung, and he felt his small, pint sized friend fall to her knees, her cries echoing through the empty forest. He brought his hand up to his chest, and Navi placed her small, tiny head against her shoulder._

"Y-you can't go!" Navi cried out in staccato. "Please Link, the Deku Tree was my closet friend and he died, and now you have to leave? That's… that's just like you dieing… because… because you're never going to be able to come back… It isn't fair…"

'It's not fair'…? Was it fair? He didn't know, and he couldn't tell, and he didn't want to think about it. But he did.

* * *

Time dripped away like a leaky pipe from Hyrule Castle where one of the maids or someone else would have to go and fix it, you could go over, tighten it, and it would stop. But time… it just kept going without stopping, and no matter what, it didn't stop for anyone, it didn't care who you were or what was happening, it just kept on going, despite the matters. Just like a dripping pipe. Only, you couldn't stop the dripping, and it always did the same pitter-patter, same rhythm, never going faster nor slower.

Talim lay there quietly, staring up at the ceiling, the Wind blew through the room, and she just lay there, staring.

_'Talim?'_ The Wind called out, small Wind like fingers brushing against her face. _'My Dear Talim, won't you answer me?'_

Talim answered, neither with her wind, nor with words from her lips. She felt numb, not numb with pain, but with the sorrow that ran through her veins. She wanted Link to come back. She needed him to come back. He hadn't left already, had he? She wanted to say good-bye…

The day pushed by, slowly, tirelessly, and Link still hadn't come back. Talim refused to eat. She wouldn't eat until Link came back…

And then night fell, like a dreaded shadow, but she didn't want night yet, she felt like she were being forced to have a fat, thick heavy fur blanket wrapped around her when the sun was beating down, the temperature was unbearable high, and there was no shelter from the heat, not a house nor tree not a single shadow around.

It was almost midnight, and Talim still wouldn't sleep. She didn't talk, eat, nothing. She just… waited.

* * *

Kalana sat there, the Wind roaming around her gently as she sat there on the balcony of her home that was the edge of the Village, her balcony facing opposite of the village, and all that she could see was the wide open ocean through two mountains set far apart.

"Talim," Kalana asked the Wind in her old, withered voice. "How is Talim? I haven't asked you in so long…"

_'She is wounded.'_

Kalana immediately looked around, as if she could see the Wind.

"What? What happened?"

_'She was ambushed by a strange creature named Charade and was wounded in the stomach, she will live, but she will be unable to travel for so long. She has told Link to leave without her.'_

Link. The Wind had told Kalana about him, the young man with long, pointed ears, who traveled with her dear young Talim. She was grateful to Link, and praised him. But at that moment, she wasn't thinking about Link, she was thinking about Talim.

"Unable to go on?" Kalana whispered, she shook her head. "This cannot be… she must do what she set out to do. She complete her quest…"

Kalana looked up at the sky, the stars twinkling down at her brightly. The moon was full, and so she could see everything, she could see like a hawk, even though she was so old.

"My dear, sweet, lovely Talim," Kalana whispered as a tear slipped down her cheek. "You will be healed…"

* * *

Talim had fallen asleep somehow; she didn't know why she had let herself. She was dreaming, standing in a green, lush field, the Wind blowing around her, hills everywhere.

"I need to wake up!" Talim cried as she looked around herself, she kicked the ground, and let out a small scream.

"Talim!"

Talim turned around and saw her Grandmother, Kalana, standing there, a few yards away, arms open. Her eyes went round, and Talim immediately ran into her arms.

"Grandmother…" Talim whispered, but then she backed away, and looked at her. "You felt so real, why? I am dreaming!"

"Dreaming, yes, but I am here inside of you." Kalana smiled, and Talim noticed that she had all of her teeth, cleaned, and that she was younger...? She was younger, so much younger, her voice was crisp and new, her hair not its normal pure white as Talim had always seen it, and it was long, down to her waist, a thick pure black. Her eyes were black as well, sparkling, not a wrinkle to be seen in her skin, her back smooth and strait. Talim had only recognized her because of her voice, but her voice was still young, like a sweet night in gale.

"Grandma, you're so…"

"Young? Yes." She chuckled as she looked at herself, "Yes, I am, aren't I?"

"Why are you here?"

"You must be healed." Her Grandmother told her simply as she placed her hands on her Grandchild's small shoulders. "You must go on."

"But how can I?" Talim asked as she shook her head and looked down, her eyes mournful. "My wound…"

"I will heal you, dear Talim." Kalana told her in a sweet, smiling whisper. Talim looked up at her Grandmother, confused. "You don't understand… not yet at least."

She took Talim's hand, opened it, and pressed pieces of Soul Edge into her palm, and then closed it.

"Your little Link forgot the pieces that Charade left when he killed It." Kalana chuckled as she rubbed Talim's cheek. A tear fell down from her eyes, and she sniffled, wiping her tear away. She looked at Talim, directly in the eyes, her smile still there even though her eyes were serious. "Good-bye Talim. I will be with you, in your heart…"

* * *

Talim's eyes flew open, and she looked around her pitch-black room, her eyes adjusting. But why were they adjusting? She hadn't seen any light…

She felt something in her hand. She lifted it up, and opened it, and saw something that gave her both a leap of joy and sheer terror.

It was the pieces of Soul Edge that her Grandmother had given her.

She shot strait up, and jumped off of her bed, as she looked at the pieces, shocked. Then, when she realized what she had done, she looked down at her stomach, covered with wraps. She unwrapped them, fumbling, and then when the wraps were clear; she saw something that made her gasp… her wound… was gone?

"How?" Talim's eyes went wide as she rubbed her stomach, not even a scar! "How? Wind?"

The Wind blew by, and Talim immediately dropped her joyful amazement when she sensed that there was something wrong with the Wind.

"Wind…?"

_'She has died…'_ The Wind cried out in a mournful way as it circled the room. _'She gave her life so you could be healed, young Talim.'_

"W-what?" Talim's eyes filled with tears as she fell to her knees, and as she sat down on her heels, a tear fell from her eyes. "Grandmother… no… Grandmother… you can't be gone… please… **please**…."

Talim stood up, still crying silently, and she walked over to her pack, tears dripping to the floor, or on herself. She pulled out her Wind Guides, put her new Soul Edge pieces inside, and then snuck out of her room, and soon after, the house.

She walked quiet through the streets, going into the grass, and walked, walking for half an hour, until she stopped.

"Grandmother…" Talim whispered as she bowed down, her head touched the ground in the grass. "This dance… is for you…."

She stood up, bringing her Wind Guides up, her back strait and strong. She then twirled one Wind Guide in her hand, then the other, and then she began her dance, that to anyone with a single glance would look odd. But to someone who would take notice, and could feel… they would see a beautiful dance. A dance filled with mourning, a dance filled with honor for the one who had departed. As Talim danced, her tears danced as well as they fell, and although Talim's vision was blurred, she knew just where to step, and knew just where she was.

* * *

Link walked through the trees, slowly making his way back to the village, wanting to go back, but at the same time, not wanting. He forced himself to go though, for he wanted to see Talim's face…

He broke out of the trees, and looked around, noticing that he had strayed from his original path and that he was quite a ways from the town. He looked around, and saw someone in that grass, standing up, strait up.

And that certain person had… black hair… brown skin…. Wait….

"T-Talim?" Link gasped as he stepped forward to get a closer look. He cupped his hands around his mouth, stopping for a moment, and yelled out: "Talim?"

The stranger turned, and Link knew that it was her, but, how?

"Talim…" Link ran over to her, still a bit dumbfounded, which was fortunate in a way, so he wasn't losing his mind. He stopped right in front of her, and she looked at him, tears in her eyes, and don't her cheeks. He looked at her, and regained himself, and looked at her again, this time, fully. "Talim, what's happened? What's wrong?"

"My Grandmother," Talim began, her voice beginning to crack as she spoke. "She gave up her life so she could heal me, she's dead because of me!"

Talim bowed her head as he could see tears falling from her eyes. Link placed his hands on her shoulders gently, and then, he pulled her close to him, and hugged her, tightly yet softly. She wrapped her arms around him as well, and Link could feel her tears going through his tunic, he could feel the wet, warm tears.

"Talim…" Link laid his hand on her head, gently. "It's… alright…"

He didn't know what else to say, and he didn't know if anything that he said would make a difference, but there was no harm in trying, was there? They stood there, completely silent, hardly a noise around except for the Wind, which weaved around them as silently as they could, the grass gently moving. The moon shown down, her silver light glimmering down brightly at the two of them, almost in a sorrowful way. Talim just stood there, in his arms, quiet.

"You must be… confused." Talim sniffled as she pulled herself away from Link, and she faced away from him for a moment before she looked back up at him. "My Grandmother from my village, she was a Healer, and was just about to finish teaching me how to heal, she had one last lesson to teach me, but I never learned it because I left.

"The last healing power that she wanted to teach me… it was called 'Sacrifice' it's where you give your life up to heal someone, and you can do it anywhere, no matter how far you are." She sniffled as she explained this, blinking away her tears. "Sacrifice was the Healing technique that she used on me… she visited me, in a dream, telling me good-bye. I didn't know what she was saying…"

"Talim," Link put his hands on her shoulder again, and gave her the best smile that he could. "I know… what it feels like, to lose someone that you love. I've lost everyone from Hyrule."

"Thank you." Talim whispered as she looked down and closed her eyes, she sat down on her ground, and Link sat down, right beside her. She looked at him, and gave him a meek smile back. "I left them… but knowing that they were there, that they were safe… it made me feel better. Knowing that they were alright, knowing that nothing had happened to them, and that I was keeping them safe by leaving, that is what has kept me from going back, knowing that I'm going to protect them from both Soul Edge and themselves from Soul Edge's insanity that it creates."

"That's what keeps me going," Link nodded as he looked back at her, strait in her eyes. "Knowing that I'll be keeping everyone safe…. That's what always keeps me going. But you're lucky, with your Wind, because you can know how they are, if someone's ill, depressed, just small things like that. I can't do that. I don't know what's happening there, I have no idea."

"I never thought about that…" Talim whispered as she looked at the ground, taking her eyes away from Link's. "The Wind has always been with me, I never really thought about _not_ having the Wind… how do you… do it? Keep on going?"

Link scratched his head for a moment, and blushed. Talim looked at him when he didn't answer, although she didn't speak.

"You." He admitted, making himself take his hand away from his head.

"Me?"

"Because you're so innocent, and you've always known how to keep things up, you know how to make people happy, and you're honest."

"I'm not doing a very good job at staying happy right now," She replied with a bitter laugh as she sniffled again. "Am I?"  
"You're doing better then I could." He replied with a weak smile as a memory went through his head. "When I was traveling on a mission to save Hyrule, I was put to sleep for seven years. When I woke up, everything that was destroyed, in disaster, and everything that I knew had been changed, and those who I grew up with didn't even recognize me. And then, I heard that Zelda was dead…"

Talim listened, patient, quiet.

"I didn't know that she was my sister then, but I loved her so much as a friend, and I could hardly control myself when I heard that she was dead. I destroyed nearly anything that I could find, and couldn't stop making a racket." He felt odd… saying this, because he had never told this anyone at all. But there was something special about Talim, something. "My friend Navi was the only person who kept me going, who kept me motivated, and reminded me who I was fighting for, and what would be lost if I didn't go on."

"Stay with me, please." Talim whispered as she bowed her head, Link looked at her, surprised. "I don't want to be alone."

"I don't either." Link agreed as he touched her hand softly, and he rubbed it, gently. "We'll stay together, for as long as we can."

"I promise."

"I promise as well."

* * *

It was only the very next day, when Talim and Link had left. They felt bad leaving so soon, but what had happened there… they just had to leave. Maxi had gone somewhere, and hadn't returned the next day, but it was clear that he was coming back for his items were still there. They decided to leave without him, after all, as Talim stated, it was a compittion against others to get to Soul Edge first.

"I'm glad to be going again," Talim declared as she walked beside Link as the town faded behind them. "If I stayed there… I think that I would have drowned in my depression."

"You sure that you want to leave so quickly?" Link asked, still worried.  
"You mean my Grandmother?" Talim asked, her voice instantly going soft. "She wouldn't have wanted me to stay there, sad. Even though I'm sad, she would have wanted me to keep on going, that's what she died for, so I could keep on going and destroy Soul Edge. I won't disappoint her, I could never disappoint her after her sacrifice."

"You sound like me." Link remarked, serious as he lifted an eyebrow.

"I do?"

"It's almost scary."

Talim laughed, grinning from ear to ear.

"She would have wanted me to be happy too." Talim told Link when she saw him confused look when she laughed. "I will do everything to do what she wanted me to!"

"Even someone dieing doesn't get down." Link remarked, then, he looked down, ashamed. "Oh… I'm sorry…"

"It's alright." Talim gave him a smile. "I can't be sad, not now. I don't have time. Mourning more will have to wait for now. And besides, I can feel her soul, it's in the Wind."

"Right." Link nodded, although he had no idea what she meant.

They walked in silence for a while, and then, Talim stopped and looked at Link.

"Thank you for listening to me." She told him as she gave him a small bow.

"Thank you as well," Link gave her a small bow too, Talim smiled at him.

"You're brave." She told him as she looked at him. "Going on like that when you thought that your sister was dead."

"No I'm not." Link stated, and this surprised Talim, and she looked at him, confused, and he answered her thoughts: "I've always had to rely on others for support. I may have fixed things for others, but someone always has to be there to give me that support, I can't do things by myself, I need someone there, even if they're not there all the time, I need to see them, I have to. I'm a coward really."

"That doesn't make you a chicken." Talim told him as she looked at him. "Everyone needs help. If you can't have anyone there to help you, if you refuse help, then that isn't right. I've always had the Wind with me, those who have no one… I feel pain for them, I can't imagine what they've gone through."

Link didn't reply to that, but he said something else: "This reminds me of when it's my birthday."

"What?"

"My birthdays always make me depressed."

"Why?"

"Because the day that I went to sleep for seven years was my Birthday, and the day that I woke up from those seven years and learned what had happened to Hyrule, that was when I was told that Zelda was dead, it was my Birthday. I felt so… useless. Because I wasn't able to prevent what had happened, and when another year had gone by and I still hadn't been able to save Hyrule. And so whenever it's my Birthday, I always remember those two days, those years."

"That is horrible…"

"Sometimes," Link felt odd saying this, and he felt… revealed? "I really just don't wish that I was born, it was just too hard."

"Well, no matter what you say," Talim gave him a cheerful grin as she began walking again. "I'm glad that you were born."

This chapter is dedicated to my friend Black, who said the exact same thing to me on my Birthday.

So Until Next Time,

CrypticElf….


	11. A Nightmare Come Alive

Hello, my wondrous reviewers!

Ivy: Finally! Something different…

Excuse me?

Raphael: You're little 'author's talk' sucks, to be blunt.

Well you better get your little French butt OVER HERE-

Talim: Link, get Chapter Eleven.

Link: Sounds like a good idea right now...

The Star Swordsman: I'm glad that you thought that my chapter was touching! Thanks for reviewing.

**Dakyu: I'm sorry if I made you feel stupid… but… don't worry, this chapter is fifeteen pages long. Thanks for reviewing.**

**Leviathan's Son: I'm glad that you thought that the chapter was so drama filled! Mwaha… and I remember figuring out who you are, but then I forgot. Whoops… thanks for reviewing.**

**Massacre-of-Flies: I thank you for your helping me, and forgive the spelling mistakes, I'm now reading over what I write now and checking things over. Thanks for reviewing.**

**redskin122004: Thank you so much! And don't worry, I'm sure that you'll be great at writing, just keep on trying, that's what I had to do. Thanks for reviewing.**

**Ben Stylin: What? What do you mean what? You've gotten me confused…! Thanks for reviewing even so, everyone counts!**

**Hououza: Wow, your words there really gave me this cool feeling inside! You're great at seeing these things. Thanks for reviewing.**

**Lvmj: You know, I didn't even plan for Talim's Grandmother to die, in fact, I kept on thinking and thinking about how Talim could keep on going on her journey and so I thought up of that, knowing that everyone would get really depressed! Lol. Thanks for reviewing.**

**firetwins: I try and put in the humor when I think it's right, but sometimes I worry that I put it in at the wrong times. Thanks for reviewing.**

**Jarock16: Very short review, but I still enjoyed reading it. Thanks for reviewing.**

**Super Davis: Wow! I feel so specail now! I can't believe that you really think that I'm closer to that 'professional' level now. Your review has really helped me put more into this chapter, thank you so much for your review!**

**mega edgar: You have a unique name! Thanks for reviewing.**

(Is being strangled by Raphael) This… chapter is… dedicated to Hououza… (Gags) For being a faithful… reviewer… and internet… friend…

**Chapter Eleven: A Nightmare Come Alive**

The city was loud, bustling with excitement as people rushed through the large, wide open streets, the people moving so quickly and the whole number of people themselves making the streets look like a fast moving river from above.

"This is Benetnasch!" Talim cried out as she a Link stood together off to the side of a street.

"Benetnasch?" Link lifted an eyebrow as he looked at the people. Both he and Talim had to yell to hear one another, for the sound of the streets completely blocked any sound at all that was small enough to be swallowed by it. "This place is huge!"

"Come on; let's go find an Inn to stay in."

Talim looked at Link, and he looked back at her, and with that, Link grabbed Talim's hand as they went through the streets, so that way they wouldn't be separated from one another. Link couldn't help but notice that Talim's hand was soft, warm and….

"What?" Link asked himself, in that moment, he tripped over a rock that was sticking out of the road. Talim practically yanked Link's arm out as she pulled him back up, saving him from being crushed beneath the feet of people and the hooves of horses, not to mention the dangerous carts that rode by as well.

Talim gave him a worried look as Link blushed and scratched his head, Talim then gave him a simple smile, and then they took off once again.

They stayed at an Inn, but to their discomfort the prices of even the cheapest looking Inn was terribly high and costly.

* * *

"A competition is being held off in the new stadium." The Inn Keeper advised as Talim asked about a competition that paid well to the winners. "Lots of people are gonna be there, along with a lotta tough fighters. If you're gonna go, then be prepared for anything, Benetnasch may look pretty but the fighters here won't be nice. And as you can tell, Benetnasch is filled with travelers like yourselves, and those who come to competitions always have an interesting style of fighting, and so you can never know how your opponent is gonna be. What I'm sayin', is that you should be careful if you want to enter, lot's of people who go and fight for money and lose get hurt real bad."

Talim and Link heeded the Inn Keeper's words, but the probably was, was that if they wanted to buy the supplies that they needed then they would need to get some money, for the Inn had taken up most of the few pieces of money that they had.

"I have some money… but… I don't think that it'll be worth anything here." Link sighed as he scratched his head as they stood in a line to be enrolled into a competition.

"Let's just do our best!" Talim cheered with a grin as they neared the fighter's ring. "It's all that we can do, and we can't go back now."

Link nodded, and a minute later the battle that had been going on had ended, and they took a couple of steps closer.

"This reminds me of Regulus." Talim stated, Link nodded, completely agreeing with her, but without any words, because he was paying attention to the battle that had ended nearly immediately.

Ten minutes past, and Talim was to be one of the next fighters once the current battle ended.

"Good-luck." Link told Talim as he leaned against the wall, seeing how the battle outside was close to ending. "Just remember what the Inn Keeper said."

"I will." The battle ended, and winner was walking away, slightly bleeding, the loser on the ground, a gory mess as a couple of people came a removed him. Link scratched his head, staring at the loser as he was taken away.

"All right, I'm up!" Talim nodded to Link and gave him a reassuring grin, and he did the same. She then stepped out, and the crowd cheered as the two next fighters emerged.

"I'm going to rip you ta' pieces." Her opponent growled, Talim didn't reply but did a few stretches, getting prepared. The man that she was facing had a few scars, and looked to be around his mid-twenties. He was a few inches taller then Link was, and was all muscles, no shirt and simple white pants, bare-footed.

By the cheers of the crowd, the battle was getting ready to start, and someone stepped up, close yet keeping clear of the two of them.

"Ready… fight!"

The one who had come up raced away, used to fighters who charged and began slashing around wildly. But Talim and her enemy just stood there and looked at each other, Talim's face serious and the others grinning.

"Won't you please give up?" Talim asked, the man's grin faded, clearly enraged by her words.

"You'll take that back!" He cried out as he raised his long smooth sword, he charged towards her, and Talim moved aside quickly. He saw this, and swung his leg down at one of her feet, tripping her.

Talim went back, but instead of crashing to the ground, she landed on her hands, and as she moved to bring herself back up onto her feet in a flip, she had both of the tops of her feet land right onto the man's chin, using the force of her flip to create the impact. She landed perfectly, the man stumblingly backwards.

Talim leapt forward, but she went down, and as she fell down the ground she slid between his legs on the ground. As she got clear of his legs, she did the same as before, she flipped up, and she pushed herself up off of the ground completely, going up at a small angel upside-down in the air. Her heels hit the man's head as he was stumbling back, and he was lifted off of the ground, and as he was going through the air, there was nothing that he could do.

Talim turned herself in the air as he fell, and then he landed with a thud. She took this moment to get herself into a position where her elbow was facing first before anything else. She landed on top of him just as he was pushing himself off of the ground, her elbow hitting the middle of his back.

The man cried out, and again Talim flipped off of him, making him grunt as she pushed off of him. She landed, and then looked down at the man on the ground.

"Seven... eight… nine…" The announcer counted down from a ways afar, "Ten!"

The crowd erupted, those who won in their bets cheering and those who had lost groaning in anguish. Talim gave Link a gave and a grin as she made her way off of the battle ring, a few people coming and removing her opponent.

"She did that all… in flips!" Link scratched his head as he made his way into the ring. "I can't believe that she did that… how_ did _she do that? How does she pull that stuff off?"

Link stopped his talking to himself as he entered the ring. He stood there, and as he stopped his opponent emerged.

His opponent was shorter then he was, and, he noticed, his opponent was also a young woman.

She wore odd clothing; it was all a light blue. Her shirt was light blue, with the image of a cloud sewed in skillfully around the tops of her breasts. Her pants were light blue as well, and went down to the middle of her shin, slightly opening around there and being brought back together. She wore slipper like shoes, which were light blue as well. She also had sleeves, but her sleeves were different. They weren't part of her shirt, but instead, they started at her middle arm from a bracelet on each arm, and then went down, widening as they finally reached her wrists. Her eyes were a light brown, ready and determined. Her hair was a light brown, so short to where it didn't even hang down to the tops of her ears. But her side-burns were long and grown out, going down to her shoulders. She appeared to be in her very early twenties. Her weapon was long and completely strait and thinner then Link's blade, and on the end of the hilt was a blue like tail.

"Get ready!" She declared as she brought herself to the ring and then stood near Link. "I'll be more difficult then others to fight, and don't expect to win! I'll beat you, and you won't even know what hit you!"

"Erm… whatever you say…" Link replied as he shrugged and began stretching, although they were basic stretches, nothing like Talim's odd looking stretching routines in which she seemed to bend in every way that no one else could.

"Whatever I say?" His female opponent hissed as she gave him a glare, although she herself was stretching. "Is this how you treat your opponents? How rude!"

"Fighters ready?" Link looked over at the announcer as he stopped stretching and took out his sword. The young woman did the same, although she didn't have a sheath for her weapon. "Go!"

"Ayah!" The woman charged forward, and she was being foolish, for she left her stomach open as she charged towards him.

Link saw this and readied to give her just a small wound enough to make to her faint, he brought up his sword, and began bringing his blade down as she was in front of him.

"Just kidding!" The woman kicked her leg up forward, throwing up Link's arm. She still had her leg up in the air as she began to make a stab towards Link's shoulders, but Link regained his balance and was able to move back before her sword was upon him. He put distance between them as quickly as he could, looking at her.

He then saw something on her sword… blood?  
Link looked down at his shoulder, and saw that she had managed to slice past his tunic and just a bit at his skin, although the scratch was long and thin. He looked back up her, surprised.

"Oh, was I being a meanie?" She asked him innocently as she gave him a smile and tilted her head, like a child would.

"We are fighting; you got me fair and square." Link answered as he got ready to fight again, she saw this, and did the same.

"You're interesting!" She stated as they started circling each other. "Most people would get angry and attack me, and that's when I'd beat them!"

"I'm not like most people, not at all." Link meant this more about his ears, but of course no one would really know that besides him and Talim.

"You're going to be a good one to beat!"

Link didn't answer, but ran towards her, but he kept his sword up, ready this time, and he wasn't going to take her as lightly as he had before.

She ran towards him, and they locked blade together, looking at each other strait in the eyes. She looked strait at him, and he looked strait at her. It was then that her eyes suddenly went wide, and she dropped her blade, stumbling back.

"Is there something wrong?" Link asked this instead of taking this moment to bring her down.

"Y-you…" She looked at him, head to toe, mostly in a glance, and then she quickly came forward and grabbed her sword and left the ring.

"Battle done!" The announcer yelled as the woman left, glancing over her shoulder as she left. Link stared after her, and then brought himself together and walked out as well.

Talim was waiting for Link as he left the battle ring and into one of the tunnels that looked much like the ones where the fighters were waiting. She looked at him, grinning.

"You won!"

"But she…"

"I know, but it still counts as a win." Talim's smile faded, and she looked at Link. "But I do wonder why she left… there's nothing that looks different about you right now."

Link shrugged, and a man came over, and handed Link a bag that was large enough to fit in his palm, well, he really threw at Link. It seemed that the people at the arena were always in such a rush.

Link opened the pouch, and silver and golden coins winked back up at him. He looked up at Talim, and she gave him a grin.

"Is this a lot?" Link asked as he showed her his winnings.

"It's a lot," Talim patted Link's back and together they walked out of the arena, and back into the rushing streets.

* * *

They were back at the same Inn as before, and as a token for winning their battle the Inn Keeper gave them one free night, but one free night only, he reminded them.

They sat together on the floor of their room, their winning money out before them.

"Benetnasch pays well!" Talim exclaimed as she finished counting up the gold. "Makes me want to go and fight if we can get Gold like this again!"

"What's the difference between a silver coin and a gold coin?" Link asked as he looked at Talim, she looked at him, and explained:

"Copper is a brown coin, and it's the cheapest, there's more of it. Silver is a bit more rare, and normal people usually carry either Silver or Copper. Gold is worth the most, and you can buy many things with just one, the rich usually carry only Gold or Silver."

"So Gold is really worth something." Link scratched his head, looking at piece in his hand. "In Hyrule, Gold is only used for decoration; it isn't used as money, although it is worth a ton. I thought that it might be different here."

"What's your money there?"

Link pulled his pack over, and had to go through it for a while until he finally pulled out a glimmering green diamond, along with a red diamond. They were just the size of Link's middle nail each.

"An emerald and ruby!" Talim whispered as her eyes went wide. She looked back up at Link. "How many do you have?"

"A bag full." He answered as he pulled out a bag, filled with more green and red, more green then red. "The green ones aren't much, and the red are worth more. This was my money that I had before I began living with my sister Zelda in the Hyrule Castle. After that I just put it away and forgot about it. Being the brother of the Princess of Hyrule makes you famous. I already was though, since I was the Hero of Time, so it then it didn't just make me a Hero, I was the Prince too. I got a lot of free things from the people, it was simple things, like a few arrows or something, but it was all that I needed. But when I was getting ready to leave Hyrule, I found it again and decided to take it with me."

"That's…" Talim peered into the bag, and then grinned at Link. "That's more then enough money here!"

"We have Gold and my money." Link nodded and put the bag with his money away.

That night went on, and they slept deeply, Link thinking just before he went to sleep, about his strange opponent. Why had she given him that look and left?

* * *

They had gathered what they needed, food for the journey, and new thicker blankets for the cold season that was beginning to lurk around the corner. Soon, they were out of the large, thriving Benetnasch, and out on the open road.

They had been traveling for well over six hours, talking to each other whenever a subject came in mind. It was then, that not even two days there would be that horrible event.

"Halt!"

A familiar voice called out, and both Talim and Link stopped and turned to see from a slight ways from the small road that they were traveling, Link's opponent in the betting arena.

"What do you want?" Link asked as he looked at her, she walked forward, and stopped when she was a yard and a half away from him.

"You, you have pieces of Soul Edge, I felt it." She stated in a low voice as she looked at them, her joking manner which Link had seen before gone.

"Many people have pieces of Soul Edge." Talim replied as she began to sense hostility from her. "What is your name?"

"Your names first."

"Link."

"And my name is Talim."

"Well then, Link, Talim, my name is Xianghua." Xianghua looked between them, sternly. "Do you know what Soul Edge can do?"

"We do." They answered in unison, Xianghua shook her head.

"No, you don't. If you knew what it could do then you wouldn't even dare to get near a piece!"

"What do you know about us?" Link questioned, beginning to get irritated with her for telling them that they weren't able. "You don't know anything about how we fight."

"It doesn't matter how you fight, moron!" Xianghua took a step closer, her sword raised towards them. "It doesn't matter anything about that at all! Give me your pieces before a slice you to ribbons!"

"We won't give up." Talim stepped forward, the tip of Xianghua's sword right in front of her, but Talim didn't even give the blade a glance, but instead looked strait into the other woman's eyes. "If we must fight, then may it be so. But let me tell you that you will make a huge mistake trying to get what isn't yours."

"Soul Edge shouldn't even be left! It belongs to no one else but me!" Xianghua took her blade down, her arm that held it resting by her side. "And when I get it, I'll destroy it, I have to make up for my terrible mistake. I don't know how Soul Edge was able to only shatter, but I'll make sure that nothing like that happens again. You can't even begin to image how terrible the blade is when it's whole."

Talim and Link looked at Xianghua, silent, for they had nothing to say. Not shame, not stupidity in their faces, in fact, you wouldn't even be able to read their faces.

"Just the very essence of the blade kills those who are weak; they don't even have to be touched by it!" Xianghua cried out as she looked between them. "It'll just kill you!"

"Then we'll take that chance." Talim whispered, and Xianghua shook her head.

"Say what you want, but you'll never be prepared. Leana warned me before, but I didn't listen, I'm surprised that even I lived! I'm protecting you, why must you defy me?"

Xianghua's blade suddenly went towards Talim's throat, but Talim instantly ducked. Talim then went down and tripped her, and Xianghua fell down, her head landing on a rock. Talim then bent over, going through her pack.

"What are doing?" Link asked instantly when he saw this.

"Taking her Soul Edge pieces." Talim pulled out three pieces, each of them large in size. It was obvious that the three pieces had fused with others. She stood up, and placed them in her own pack, and then looked at Link, who was giving her a sad look. "I fought her Link, and I won. That was a battle, even if it only had two attacks. In a battle, you don't even have to touch the other. She attacked me, and that was the starting of a fight, and she was fighting for our pieces, and I was fighting for hers. I beat her, and so as the prize we take the pieces."

"You're right… I've had many battles to end in just one attack, like with Talison at Regulus… let's go now; I don't think that I want her to wake up when we're still here."

Talim nodded, and they both took off, running, Xianghua still knocked out. She would be fine, Link knew that, and so did Talim.

* * *

They didn't stop, not for an hour. They didn't stop until they had reached a forest, and felt hidden within its dense brush. They both had simply stopped together, and sat down, both of them taking drinks of water and pouring a bit on themselves. Soon after, they stood up, and began again, but they didn't run, but jogged. The forest itself was small, but you could easily get lost, for the way that the trees were seemed to make you think that you were going strait, but an hour later you'd find that you'd already passed that creek.

They emerged out of the forest, Talim thanking the Wind for telling her which way to go. They went farther, keeping up a brisk pace, sometimes going out into runs. They only stopped when night was close to falling, the sun already just a small sliver from the horizon.

They lay next to each other, inside of their blankets, not risking a fire. They didn't know why they felt that they had to hide, but there was something about that Xianghua…

"Where is she, do you think?" Link asked, although he kept his voice low.

"The Wind tells me that she was found by a traveler going to Benetnasch and brought her there on his cart, he's a Trader. When she woke up, she thanked him but immediately went on her way. But the Wind had created a harsh wind storm, and made it strong enough to where Xianghua had to stop."

"Well, thank you Wind." Link politely said, the Wind seemed to smile as it gently touched his cheek and then flew about slowly. "You know… the Wind doesn't bother me anymore, it used to, but now I don't even notice."

"That's great; it wouldn't be good if you hated that constant breeze, like Maxi did."

"Yeah… I wonder… what happened to Maxi anyway?"

"I don't know." Talim sighed as the sun's rays finally disappeared, and the Moon showed in a small crescent. No traveler would continue in this light, so Link was grateful for the fact that they wouldn't be bothered by anyone at all. "The Wind says that after we left, that he didn't come back for a few days, and when he came back he began his journey again… the Wind also tells me that he's angry that we took his Soul Edge pieces."

"What? But I didn't take them, did you?"

"No… but… I think that my Grandmother must have given them to me, you know, like how she gave me Charade's?"

"That must have been it, because I can't think of anything else… you know… we have so many pieces now. Together, we only had two, but then we got Maxi's, who had about five pieces, then we got Charade's, who had four pieces, and now we've got that… hmm… Xianghua girl's, and she had three, but her pieces, like ours had absorbed other pieces. That's got to be… fourteen pieces!"

"That's so many." Talim agreed, amazed as she had her hands on her stomach, underneath her blanket. "And that Xianghua… as you said her pieces had absorbed some as well, so we have more then fourteen pieces really… you know, that makes me wonder… if we have fourteen pieces, then… how many more are out there? We must get as many as we can, we have to. In order to finally put Soul Edge where it belongs."

"How long will that take?" Link asked, and although that question sounded hopeless, he really did have curiosity in his voice. "I've learned that trying to put an end to things, make things right… takes so long."

"It does. And that's just the way that it has to be."

Silence fell over, and Talim fell asleep almost instantly, feeling that the conversation was over. But Link stayed awake, looking out at the blank darkness that veiled over him. He couldn't stop thinking about that Xianghua. There was something about her, something stranger about her. He had a feeling… that she was closer to Soul Edge and knew more about It then either he or Talim did.

And Maxi… there had been something in those words that he had told Link before, about how Link had to learn how to lose what was precious to him. And now that Link had thought about it, the way that Maxi had said it, there had been something within his words that had rung true for Maxi as well. Link had had a feeling that Maxi had said that because he had lost something as well, but he had never actually thought about it. And so, Link had to wonder, what was it that Maxi had lost? Maxi had never spoken about his past. Did that have something do with it? Of course, he hadn't been with Maxi that long, and Link himself had never spoken about his past… what could it be then?

"Sleep…" Link commanded himself; he closed his eyes, and lay down on his side. He soon then fell asleep, leaving his thoughts for later, perhaps the morning, perhaps the afternoon, who knew? Maybe he wouldn't even think about it for another month. It was unknown.

* * *

The morning came, and Talim was awake before Link, passing him some bread and water, and just a bit of cheese. Once they finished, they packed up their blankets and put away their food, and began walking again through the tall waving grass at a brisk pace.

The afternoon came, and something off in the distance appeared, something disturbing.

"What is that?" Link suddenly asked as he stopped walking, looking out into the distance. Talim stopped as well, first looking at Link to see where he was looking, and then turned her eyes to where he was staring.

"It's smoke." Talim replied as she looked out at the dark gray smoke that rose up in billows. How did she not notice that? It was close by, and how did she not smell it?

"I know, but where is it coming from?"

Talim and Link took those words as their cue to find out what it was, and began their way closer, a large hill slightly off in the distance covering up what they wanted to see.

It was soon when they arrived at the hill that was blocking their view, and now they could smell the smoke perfectly, along with another disgusting stench that Link far too well.

"That smell…" Talim had to stop as the odor rammed into her, but she kept on going, right beside Link. They arrived at the top of the hill, and saw something that made their eyes go wide. But that wasn't the cursed event that was going to happen, no, but that event was coming very soon.

"What… happened here?" Link whispered weakly as he looked out at the charred land, where there wasn't a survivor left.

It was a town, a large town, but large enough to be a city. Or at least it had been… it had all been burned down, and there were still flames eating on wood, but not just wood, there were the bodies of those who had been there, all of them on the ground, still burning. That's what the smell had been, actual burning flesh.

The buildings that had once stood strait and ground were now hardly anything but ashes, and a remain of a piece of wood was rare. The ground was pure black, and what had once been a street made of stone was only black sand.

"L-Link!" Talim put her hand up to her mouth, and she looked out at the scene before them. Link instantly turned to Talim, and hugged her tightly as she closed her eyes and rested her head against her chest. She wasn't crying, but she still took in deep breaths, trying to keep herself under control. Link rested his head on her own head softly, his eyes closed as well.

Talim turned her head, and looked out at the dead town as Link took his head away from Talim's and looked at well, still holding her.

"What could have… done this?"

"Soul Edge." Link replied, just two words that now had a completely new meaning now.

Suddenly, a loud roar erupted from a corner in the town. Talim pulled away from Link, and looked at him. The roar came again, and this time, Talim gave Link and glance before heading down, Link following next to her.

They didn't have to go far, when they saw something peculiar, something that looked human, but it had been… mutated.

Something stood there, with armor, large, thick in muscles and tall. Glowing dark orange and red eyes peered out from the helm. Long, dark red hair made its way from behind the helm. A large arm could also be seen, and it was far larger then any human arm could ever be, it had to be three times larger then Link's own arm, and had long, skeleton like fingers. Nothing else could be seen behind the armor, but it was obvious at first glance that this was a human who had been turned into a monster. It held a weapon, a weapon that was thick and long, made of flesh that showed its pulsing veins and muscles, almost like a human body. It also had one eye, an eye that had every color that an eye could ever had, and Link noticed that the eye looked exactly how Charade's eye looked, the same color, everything. And it was clear that sword was part of Soul Edge, although not complete.

The creature turned his eyes towards Its two intruders, and It turned its body slowly, It's blade dripping with blood, It's own armor covered with blood.

"**Your souls… I can smell them…"** The creature made movement towards them, It's voice deep and distorted. "**They will…be mine…"**

It came closer to them, but neither Talim nor Link made a movement. But someone did speak, and it was Talim:

"What is your name?"

"**My name?**" The creature gave a low, garbled laugh, which almost seemed to bring It pain. "**I'd think… that you would know it… I am known as Nightmare… I kill whoever crosses my path… I am known… everywhere… the slayer of men, women, and children… if there is ever a massacre… everyone and everything… knows that it is me…**"

Talim took Link's hand, and gave it a gentle squeeze, telling him not to worry, which confused Link at first, but when Talim let his hand go and stepped forward, he understood immediately. She was going to try and face this beast! Link fought to keep himself in place, to stop himself from charging after her and pulling her back. He didn't move, and watched Talim, feeling as helpless as a newborn pup.

"**You want… to face me?**" It said this, giving out another painful laugh as it raised It's one-eyed sword. "**Your soul will be mine!**"

"No one's soul will be taken in this battle." Talim answered as she drew nearer, a few seconds past, and she stood near Nightmare, so close to where if he were to raise his sword and bring it down upon her that it would slice her right half with ease if she didn't move to evade it. But Nightmare only stared at her, and she stared back. They were both silent, and Link simply watched this, trying to figure out what was going between them.

"**What is it, which you think… that you can… do?**" Nightmare asked, and his voice wasn't threatening, but he was actually curious.

"You aren't a monster… I can feel something inside of you." Talim drew closer, very, very slowly, but even so, Link's heart began to race faster.

"**Is that so? …Well your friend over there… his heart is beating… like a humming bird's… he doesn't seem to think that… you can do anything…**"

Link felt anger rise inside of him, but then he realized that Nightmare was trying to make him angry, and make Talim pay attention to Link. But Talim didn't fall for this, but instead kept her eyes on Nightmare.

"What was your name before it was Nightmare?" Talim asked as she stopped going closer, and she said this in a soft voice, and yet it was strong and commanding.

"**Pathetic question!**"

"What was your name before it was Nightmare?" She repeated again, Nightmare seemed to be angered by her question, and raised his sword up. But Talim said again: "What was your name before it was Nightmare?"

"**Shut up!**" Nightmare brought his blade down towards Talim, faster then Link thought that possible for something his size. But Talim was able to move aside quickly, and as Nightmare swung towards her again horizontally she ducked.

"**You're beginning… to irritate me…**" Nightmare growled, as a violent gleam in both his own eyes and the sword's one eye appeared. "**I will show you… the greatest nightmare!**"

Nightmare charged forward, and Talim brought her elbow blades up, ready to attack. She leapt back when Nightmare was closer to her, narrowly missing another swing of his massive sword. It was then that Link knew that it would Talim wouldn't be able to win, at least without Link's help.

Link unsheathed his Master Sword, and charged forward, and Nightmare caught Link's movement from the corner of his eye. Nightmare turned himself around, and charged towards Link as well. Talim took this opportunity and leapt up upon Nightmare's back, and to Link's surprise, she stabbed one of her elbow blades into an opening in Nightmare's armor. Nightmare roared out in pain, and took his large, deep dirt colored arm and reached back, farther then any human could reach, and grabbed Talim, and threw her off of his back as if she were mere rag-doll. In the air, Talim was able to turn herself, exactly like a cat would, and landed roughly on her feet.

Link was about to make a quick glance at Talim to check if she was alright, but quickly reminded himself that was _not_ facing a human opponent, if Nightmare saw his glance; he would be able to cut Link up before Link could even know that Nightmare's sword was coming towards him.

"**You're… not from this world…**" Nightmare stated to Link, and there wasn't any doubt within his voice. Link knew that his ears weren't showing, he could feel his hair and the cloth of his hat against both sides of his ears. "**I can tell… feel…**"

Link decided that he shouldn't ask anything about this, even though his curiosity instantly flared wildly. Thus, he chose to simply charge forward, his shield up, his sword out. Nightmare went forward too, his sword raised. Just as they were about to connect, Link dropped to the ground, and rolled between Nightmare's legs. As he finished rolling between his legs, he flipped up, and leapt forward towards Nightmare's back, the Master Sword piercing through the armor with little difficulty.

Link pushed the sword through Nightmare's skin and flesh, and Nightmare cried out in pain, and veered around so fast to where Link was thrown off, the Master Sword still inside of Nightmare's back, so deep to where only the hilt could be seen.

"He can't die…" Link whispered hoarsely when Nightmare was completely unaffected, even though red blood began leaking out from Nightmare's armor like tiny red rivers.

Talim jumped in front of Link, and Nightmare took his sword, and began moving his sword side ways to where the blade would meet Talim and throw her away so hard that her landing would defiantly be painful. But Talim simply stood there, Syi Sarika and Loka Luha's sharp tips facing the sword.

Talim soared through the air when Nightmare's blade met her elbow blades and her, but as Nightmare's sword met the tips of the Elbow Blades, Nightmare's eyes and the sword's eyes went wide as the Elbow Blades went through the flesh of the sword, black blood spurting out, and then as Talim was thrown into the air, leaving her Elbow Blades in the sword, the sword literally began to crack with white light gleaming through the cracks.

The eye of the sword went completely wide, just like Nightmare's, but unlike Nightmare's eyes, the eye rolled back into its socket, and all that could be seen was white.

Nightmare gave out a long, loud, ear-piercing inhuman scream, his whole body stiff as his beloved blade was being shattered.

"**NOT AGAIN!**"

The large sword that was a large piece of Soul Edge began to literally crack, and within the cracks came pure white light. It exploded, blowing back Link and Nightmare, and even Talim, who was still flying through the air like a bird who had been caught in a horrible wind-storm.

Link opened his eyes, and slowly sat up, wiping away dirt that had flown from his eyes. He saw Talim slowly bringing herself up too, spitting out dirt and wiping her eyes at the same time.

Nightmare laid on the ground, still.

Talim stood up slowly, and walked over to Nightmare. She leaned over him, and as Link stood up clumsily he saw that Nightmare looked… different.

Nightmare's hair was still long, but now it was light yellow, he was blond now. He still had his large, brown arm, but his other arm was human, the skin on that arm just barely tanned, as was the skin on his face and chest. His face was human, although there was still brown like veins that stretched across his face. Now he only had armor on his legs and feet, everything else bare. His eyes were closed, but he was still breathing.

Link brought himself up, and picked up his sword, which was lying nearby. He then walked over to Nightmare, and leaned over him.

"What do you think…?"

"Happened?" Talim finished Link's sentence as they both leaned over Nightmare, both of them on a different side. All that remained of Nightmare's own sword were a pile of Soul Edge pieces, dimly glowing red, and then going out.

"Urg…." Nightmare's eyes slowly began to open, and both Talim and Link saw that he had one eye that held a deep, dark blue, that reminded Link of Zelda's eyes, and the other eye that was still a cross between orange and red. Nightmare looked between the two of them, clearly confused. But it wasn't Nightmare anymore… Nightmare was gone.

"Are you all right?" Talim asked soothingly as she tilted her head.

"What… who are you…?" He asked, his voice now no longer terrible and deep.

"Talim."

"Link."

"I'm… Siegfried."

"Sage-fry?" Link repeated clumsily.

"Sieg-fried." Siegfried corrected weakly as he closed his eyes and laid his head back, although he didn't go to sleep. His eyes then reopened, and he looked at them, realizing something. "Where is it? Soul Edge?"

"We destroyed it." Link answered, getting prepared to jump away if he tried to assault them. But he didn't, and a look of relief passed through his face.

"Wha-?"

A voice that neither Talim, Link, or even Siegfried wanted to hear at that moment came to their ears. It was… Xianghua!

"You're supposed to be DEAD!" Xianghua screamed as she looked at who she believed was Nightmare, and was in a sense. "I killed you myself! How can you still be alive? Arg! Why can't you monsters just die and stay dead?"

Link stood up, the Master Sword raised towards Xianghua. Talim stayed kneeling next to Siegfried, for she didn't have her weapons with her.

"Don't come near him." Link warned as he stood protectively over the other two. "Or Talim."

"Are you stupid?" She asked as she came forward, and when she was close enough she raised her own sword and let it touch Link's blade. "He's an evil, vile being who must be killed!"

"You are… the one who beat me?" Siegfried raised himself up, and stood up slowly, Talim standing up with him, supporting him. He finally brought himself up all the way. "Your name is Xianghua, is it not? You're the wielder of Soul Calibur. Tell me, where is your sword?"

"I lost it after the battle, thanks to you!" Xianghua took her sword away from Link's and pointed it at 'Nightmare'.

"Lost it?" Siegfried's eyes went wide, and he almost fell over, but Talim was able to help him regain his balance. "How are you supposed to destroy Soul Edge if Soul Calibur is gone? There's no hope if the blade is gone!"

"Soul Calibur?" Talim asked, both she and Link gave one another a glance.

"Yeah, duh, Soul Calibur!" Xianghua answered hotly. "_My _sword might I add. It's the only sword that can defeat Soul Edge!"

Link brought his sword down, but he was ready to bring it back up instantly if needed, watching Xianghua's every movement.

A sound of someone walking behind Xianghua could be heard, and everyone turned to see who it was.

"Maxi?" Xianghua quickly forgot about the problem at hand and dropped her sword, and ran towards him. She jumped on him, hugging him tightly.

"Little too friendly woman!" Maxi pushed her off of him, dusting himself off. "Who are you anyway?"

"What?" Xianghua's face fell, and tears came to her eyes. "You don't- how can you not recognize me? It's me, Xianghua! Don't you remember me, and Kilik?"

"Obviously not." Maxi mused as he gently pushed her out of his path and began walking, but she quickly raced in front of him and stood in his path. "Woman, move."

"No! How dare you treat me like this?" She demanded as the tears began to go down her face, and she said the rest of her words with a cracking voice. "How can you not remember me? We traveled together, and saved each others lives! Why are you doing this to me?"

Talim listened to her, both filled with joy for Maxi's return but also purely confused. But the Wind blew by, and although Xianghua, Maxi's, or Siegfried took notice of it, Talim and Link both turned their heads, Talim sensing something wrong and Link noticing that the Wind had blown harder then usual.

Talim listened to the Wind's words carefully, and Link noticed something in her eyes, something… that frightened him deeply. Talim was afraid, and she was never afraid. What was wrong?

Talim faced Link, her eyes wide, her next words trembled: "The Wind… after breaking Siegfried's sword, the eruption of Soul Edge's power has…" She swallowed, and Link waited upon her words, the only other being listening Siegfried, for he was standing right next her. "Soul Edge… it's taken over the wind. The spirit of the wind has been tossed aside and is now too weak to fight back…"

"The Wind has fallen?" Siegfried seemed to understand completely, and now Maxi's and Xianghua argument was being blocked and ignored. "If that is so… then the turnout could be horrible…"

"Shut up!"

Maxi's words were said in a yell, and that even shut up the large mouthed Xianghua by the urgency in his voice. He lifted his hand, and pointed into the distance.

"Tornado." He stated, and as everyone turned to see where he was looking, they saw a distant swirling vortex, so far away that it couldn't be heard. But as a few seconds of silence passed, they were shattered when a horrible screaming could be heard. It was the wind, the tornado, coming towards them.

"No…" Talim whispered as the breeze that had been constant around her stopped, dying. She looked around, a tear going down her cheek. She was used to having the Wind go away when she went inside of a building, but outside she had never been without the Wind, and even inside of a building she had been able to feel the Wind outside, waiting for her to come back. But now… it was like a part of her was dead.

"T-tornado?" Xianghua exclaimed as her eyes like everyone else's was wide.

"The Wind has fallen." Talim stated, her fists clenched as she faced the others, her eyes were no longer shining with tears, but the tear that had already fallen down her cheek was still there.

"The Wind is really gone then? Completely?" Siegfried asked slowly, Talim nodded back. "How could one of the mighty Elemental Spirits be beaten? Never has Soul Edge been able to take down an Elemental Spirit, it has never been able to ever compare to a Spirit's power… if Soul Edge is really this powerful now… then I believe that we're all going to die."

"We've got run!" Xianghua told the others as she ran over and picked up her sword.

"No, we can't out run a tornado that is actually aiming for us." Link hadn't spoken for a small period of time, but it seemed like he had been mute within those few minutes. "What can we do?"

"Soul Calibur is the only thing that can save us." Siegfried answered, hope in his voice like a dried-up fountain.

"Are you kidding me?" Xianghua demanded as she looked at him franticly. "I've already told you that Soul Calibur is gone! I LOST it!"

"Then we're all going to die." Siegfried retorted simply, almost as if it didn't matter.

"No! I'm too young to die-!" Xianghua screeched as she brought her head down and both hands on her head. "And too beautiful!"

The tornado was closer now, the sound of the swirling vortex of death coming closer and closer every second. A few seconds past, and the tornado was traveling so fast that now someone would have to scream at the tip top of lungs to be heard, and even then they would sound like a mere whisper. It was so close, ready to devour them whole.

"What can… we do?" Link whispered the sound of the tornado so loud that he couldn't even hear his own words, and he could only depend on the thought of him saying those words to know that he had said them. Wind now began blowing back everyone's hair, but even so, no one moved a muscle.

Because there was nothing that they could do that would make a difference.

* * *

(In a bed covered from head to toe in a large cast with only brown eyes peered out) And that's the end of the chapter!

Raphael: You're leaving your reviewers hanging like that? That's even crueler then what I've done to you… (Yawns)

HEY! Just because you beat me doesn't mean that I wasn't hard to beat!

Raphael: Are you kidding me? You're even more pathetic then-

Link: Anyway, just make sure to review!

Talim: So 'til next time,

_CrypticElf…_


	12. Shaman Magic

Dedication: This chapter is dedicated to Chibi Fizz! My favorite reviewer for my GoldenSun fanfiction, and now they're back again! ...My Chibi Fizz...

Disclaimer: I own nothing of SoulCaliburII, but the plot is mine and if you take it I get to sue you.

* * *

**Chapter Twelve: Shaman Magic**

The wind blew harder against them, and they all stood there, staring out in terror, was this truly how they were to die?

Link pushed against the wind, trying to make his way to Talim, and made slow, slow progress, keeping from getting himself tossed into the air and thrown onto some jagged rock like a doll. He made it to Talim, and he grabbed her hand tightly yet gently. She turned back at looked at him, a horrible look of no hope within her eyes. But then, she gave him her small, sweet smile, and as she tightened her own hand around Link's she walked towards him, also being careful not to be whisked off by the fierce winds.

Link pulled her into an embrace, and she rested her head on his shoulders, looking out at the tornado that neared closer while did so, just as Link was doing.

She then let go of Link, giving him a quick glance before facing the tornado, which was so near that the sound was almost deafening.

_'My dear Talim… please… forgive me… I was too weh… weak... defeat... Soul…Edge…i-it… must… n-not… rule… su… su… supreme….'_

Those had been the last words of the Wind before the Spirit had fallen, not dead, but locked away, put into a slumber that could not be broken unless Soul Edge's power was put down and sent away.

_'I can't let this happen, but what can I do?'_ Talim asked this to herself as she stood there, looking out at the tornado, having trouble keeping her ground, even with Link holding her protectively. _'The Wind is no longer there… it is only Soul Edge.'_

Link held Talim in his arms, the wind of the tornado wiping his hair against his forehead. Suddenly, a fierce blast of wind struck at him, and his hat flew right off of his head. He touched his head, both he and Talim turning to see his green hat blowing away up into the sky until it turned by the winds and was sucked in into the tornado. Talim looked at Link, and he looked down at her. Through each other's eyes, something passed between them, silently, without any words at all.

Talim suddenly let go of Link, and without a word at all, she suddenly jumped up into the air. Link let out a painful yelp as she was blown right up into the air in fear and terror for her; flying up faster then he could try to grab her to pull her back down and pull her into his arms again to protect her. Without thinking, he jumped up into the air himself, being whirled through the air like a toy, just as Talim was.

He blew through the air; being thrown up faster then Talim herself had been to where he was at her level within a matter of terrible ticking seconds. Despite this, there was still a distance between them. Link reached out with his hand, and Talim did the same with hers, trying to grab the other's hand. But just as their fingertips were about to touch, they were blown away in opposite directions by the freak wind.

"Talim!" Link screamed out, she faced him, and despite everything that was happening, she gave him her special small, sweet smile, before she was sucked into the tornado and disappeared behind the swirling dirt and random objects that had gotten sucked up into it as well.

* * *

Talim pulled herself into a ball as she went in, using it to protect herself against anything that tried to thrash at her. Luckily, Siegfried had done a wonderful job of destroying nearly everything in that area, so nothing close to a large pillar of wood of a destroyed home could crush her. Even so, small rocks seemed to throw themselves at her, slicing her skin like painful little knives. 

She kept her head tucked in as well, her eyes shut against the dirt, having trouble taking in her breaths as dirt invaded her nostrils and even when she didn't want to take in a breath, the dirt went inside of her lungs. It even caked against her skin, clinging to the hair on her head, arms, and legs painfully like hungry leeches.

Taking in a curt, deep breath, coughing when the dirt shot through her throat, she straitened herself out, unrolling from her tight ball, her eyes still closed. She forced her arms over her chest, making each hand touch the opposite shoulder, her legs strait together and her feet pointed.

_"Wind of Breath and Wind of Sea,"_ She chanted aloud, her words coming from pure memory:

_"Wind of Wisdom_

_Bring your power into my heart_

_Singing slowly your powerful tune_

_Give me power so my soul may sing!_

_Grant me your soul, grant me your power_

_Open my wings, and touch the sky_

_Your power shall be mine until the striking hour"_

She lifted her arms up slowly, fighting against the wind as she kept her figure perfect, despite the terrible thrashing winds around her.

* * *

Link was plummeting towards the tornado, and he covered his face with his hands, curling himself up to protect himself as he flew into the tornado. He could the feel the wind, threatening to tear him apart and rip him to shreds. He felt something vibrating against his back, and he realized something, he realized what it was- his ocarina!  
With extreme difficulty, Link reached back, and stretched his arm, reaching into the pack upon his back and opening it just enough to let his hand in, searching for the ocarina that seemed to purposely elude his grasp. He could feel their food, flint, tinder, blankets, and cloak and other items, but where was his beloved ocarina? 

Then, he felt something push itself into his palm. He wrapped his fingers out it, and found that it was the ocarina, vibrating, and he could even feel heat within the ocarina itself. He pulled it out, the items within his pack flying out and disappearing within the swirling dirt. Link brought the ocarina to his chest, holding it tightly and protectively within his hands. It vibrated, and he could feel some type of heat emitting from the ocarina itself somehow.

_"There was eh stupid kid who came here and started playin' this stupid song!"_

_Link stood inside of a windmill in Kakariko Village, he had come in for shelter to sleep for the night, and found this strange man sitting in a corner. It took him a moment to realize, that this was the man from his past that he had met in the windmill before in the past when he was a child, and he had a strange instrument that played music when he turned a wheel._

_"Stupid kid?" Link repeated as he blinked and frowned, knowing that the 'stupid kid' had in fact been him. By the darkness, the man wouldn't be able to see his clothing, and so he wouldn't know that the Stupid Kid was standing there near him, and, talking to him._

_"Yeah! And when he play'd that song, the windmill…" The man's voice trailed off, and Link could hear him cough._

_"The windmill what?" Link asked, he hated to poke in other's business, but he wanted to know what had happened. He didn't remember playing any other song to this man then a random tune that he had made up to play to a scarecrow on the banks of Lake Hylia._

_"It just… spun madly. Wouldn' stop and kept on going faster then it ever had before and never stopped." He answered, and he laughed, but ended up coughing in the end. "I sound mad, don' I? But sometimes… it'll just start rainin' in here. I mean, _rainin'._ Gray and black clouds above me at the ceiling, and then… rain. Even if it'll be a dry day outside, it'll start rainin', and there aren't any pipes in this here windmill that hold water."_

_"What did the song sound like?"_

_"How could I ever forget?" The man sighed as he stood up, and slowly began turning the wheel to his strange instrument, and a tune formed out of it. He turned the wheel faster, and a song came up, echoing through the walls and bouncing off of them. The man finished the strange song, and he paused, as if waiting for something. "Come on…"_

_Then, it happened. Link felt a small drop of water on his nose, and he lifted up his head, where he saw a small flicker of light above. Then, another drop, and another, and another…_

_"What did he call this song?" Link asked once it literally began raining inside of the windmill. How, Link hadn't the slightest clue, except for magic._

_"Song of Storms. Name suits." The man gave a snort before he sat down and raised something over his head, which sheltered him from the pouring rain. "Wanna sit over here, young man? Yer gettin' drenched."_

_"Thank you." Link bowed as he ran over and sat down beneath what appeared to be some type of cloth over their heads that stretched out without getting wet itself, letting the water roll off of it. "Care to play that song again? I take interest in memorizing it."_

_"Feh, sure. Playin' the song again 'll make it stop luckily." The man stated, and he seemed to take pleasure and honor that Link wanted to learn this song even though he seemed to hate it. The man played the song again, and Link listened carefully, and then the man told Link what the notes were and how fast to play them…_

Link let this memory roll into his mind, and he placed the mouth of the ocarina in his own, and taking in careful, dirt filled breath, he then let out the first note to the song, and let it flow out into a song, the Song of Storms.

Despite his playing, the tornado wouldn't stop, and it only seemed to grow even angrier, and Link knew, that now, the tornado would just rip him into pieces now…

* * *

Talim finished her poem, but when she found that nothing happened, she felt a sense of lost. Her song hadn't worked, but, why…? 

Then, another song came to her ears, a sweet, quick song, and she suddenly felt something inside of her stir. Her eyes flew open, but dirt didn't come into them and irritate her eyes. She could suddenly see clearly, and the song echoed through her ears and bones, the song itself coming from a flute-like instrument. She stretched out her arms, taking in a deep breath as she closed her eyes, a new, strange power pouring itself into her. As it passed through her, entered her, she also felt pain, terrible pain as it stretched through her, and began to make her insides burn painfully and then suddenly make her grow stiff. Then, her eyes flew open, and she felt an aura grow around herself, she could feel it, see it- power.

* * *

The dirt from Link's lungs suddenly flew out, making him give out in a small fit of coughing that lasted just about five seconds, for now his lungs and throat were clear. He opened his eyes, and he then felt something inside of himself that he hadn't felt sense he left Hyrule- magic. But where had it come from? There wasn't any magic here… from the song? 

Then, an aura grew around him, and he felt himself being protected against the wind, and found that he was now simply floating there in place. Then, he felt himself move upwards, through the swirling dirt and rocks that weren't able to touch him.

Then, he saw her, Talim, in her own aura of magic, although she looked like she was in pain as she broke out into a sweat and just had a look of plain confusion. She turned to look at him, and despite their distance, Link raised his hand up towards her, his hand open, and Talim smiled, doing the same as they drifted towards one another through the air. They went through several yards, still outstretched to each other, until their finger's touched, and soon, they were grasping each other's hands tightly, this time, they wouldn't let go.

Their aura's linked together as well, and Link gave Talim a reassuring smile, she obviously had no idea what this energy was, and Link himself didn't know where it had come from, despite this, he gave her a smile, which told her silently that everything would be alright and that what was happening, _he_ knew what was happening.

The wind around them seemed to waver, and Talim closed her eyes, taking in a deep breath once she had taken reassurance within Link's smile. The power that was inside of her, around her… she took it, and felt it weaving itself through her, and she heard a small voice echoing through her head, the voice of the Wind.

_'Take the power of the wind, my young daughter, and become not the Shaman of the Wind,but theWind.'_

As these words went through her wind, she suddenly felt herself being connected- connected to the air, the winds, everywhere, she could _feel_ the flow of the wind as it traveled through the clouds, through the blades of long sweet grass, carrying the scent of the sea over the shore, singing as it went through valleys and canyons. Everywhere, everywhere…

Talim reopened her eyes, and she still held Link's hand within hers. She looked at him, and cried out, here voice echoing throughout the tornado and beyond:

"I am one with Wind!"

As Talim cried these words out, her aura extended outwards, and the tornado wavered, the winds itself of it giving a final thrash before it seemed to explode- everything that had been inside of it blowing in every direction, except for Talim and Link.

When the Wind cleared, Talim and Link were still floating up in the air, with their aura glowing around them. They slowly descended from their place in the air, Link's feet landing on the ground first as his aura seemed to disappear into the air, Talim going down next in a few seconds, her own aura going out. She faced Link, both of them covered in a light layer of yellow dust.

"Link, wh… where are we?" Talim asked slowly and softly, blinking just as slowly as she spoke as she turned her head up to face him. "Link… I feel… just agh…"

Just as her words ended, Talim's head went around in a circle, her eyelids gently lowering as she made a mumble underneath her breath. Without warning, she fell backwards, Link giving out a yelp of surprise as he instantly brought his arms forward and caught her; her head hanging limply back as he bent down on a knee and held her securely in his arms.

"Talim?" Link called out as he gave an urgent yet soft shake. When she didn't make any signs of a response, he brought his hand up to her neck, placing his rough fingers against the soft silky skin of her neck, feeling for her pulse. He counted her beats, making sure that the rhythm was just as it should be. After staying this way for a minute, he subconsciously nodded to himself.

_'She's okay…'_ Link thought quietly to himself as he sat back on the ground, not really paying any attention to the changed landscape around him as he crossed his legs and placed Talim across them still keeping her head up with one hand. _'It must have been the magic… what was that? I thought that Soul Edge soaked up all of the magic… but that was… strange magic. I know that it was magic, and it was comforting to feel it again. But it was different… I just can't put my finger on what kind of a difference it was, though….'_

Link looked down at Talim's sleeping, yellowed face, and he lifted an eyebrow lightly as he thought about why the dust was yellow and not a light brown. It must have been the magic, he concluded after a few seconds of thinking about both this and worrying over if Talim. He sighed quietly to himself, letting the silence wrap their arm around him and the sleeping one within the elf's arms.

Then he noticed as Talim slightly stirred when a tall, long thick blade of grass tickled her cheek. He gave a small smile, and then it slowly faded as something dawned upon him-grass!

Bringing his head up, he saw something that hadn't been there before, and he also realized that three beings were missing. They were no longer in the deserted field of blackened ash and smoke at which Nightmare had created; they were in a plain filled with lush, beautiful grass. And what was missing? Maxi, Siegfried, and although he himselfwas half happy that she wasn't there, thatabnormally loud Xianghua woman.

He couldn't even seen any trace that the tornado had been there. Not a single blade out of place, not a bit of wind moving the air and making the field look like a sea of green, waving about peacefully. It was just _empty._ Except for him and Talim, and, grass.

"Hello?" Link yelled out as he turned his head around quickly, blinking rapidly as he did so, being carefully not to wake Talim at the same time. Once he had unfortunately confirmed to himself that they were indeed what seemed to be the middle of nowhere, he looked back at down Talim, who couldn't tell him any comforting words that everything would be…

"Link… just… _stop it..."_ He whispered to himself, suddenly feeling angry at himself for wishing that he could rely on her at that current moment. Standing up carefully, he turned around in a circle, trying to see if there was anything in the distance. But no absolutely nothing but grass.

He couldn't just stand there, but he wasn't sure what else he could do. He couldn't hear a stream, or see one, all that there appeared to be was this stupid grass. Muttering something evilly underneath his breath Link went in the direction that he 'believed' the two of them had been going in. His legs and arms felt weak, not to mention the cramp that he felt ripping on his side. Link ignored this as best he could, and took in breaths through his nose and out of his mouth. After a minute or so of controlling his breathing the stitch lessened.

He walked for hours wondering how much longer this was going to last. Normally traveling in a field like this wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the fact that they had no supplies whatsoever. It was around then that Link realized that Talim didn't even have her weapons any longer. And to his pure horror, his sacred sword wasn't on his back either. He had stopped dead in his tracks when this finally dawned on him, his muscles growing frozen as he forced himself to control his breathing again.

After a few seconds, the elf slowly began to move his feet again almost against his will. He ignored his thoughts, the pain; he ignored the fact that eventually he'd have to stop to rest. He couldn't give up now. He hadn't before and he wouldn't do that until he got what he wanted.

Suddenly, Link's ears perked up when he heard a familiar taunting sound. Water. Running water. He instantly picked up on the sound and began running towards it, his cracked lips and dried throat begging for at least just a drop of moisture. Then he saw it, a small stretch of blue in what had appeared to be a never ending swamp of green. He went faster and faster, and once he was there he dropped down on his knees and set Talim down carefully beside him. Then he nearly threw himself the water as he leaned down to drink the heavenly blue.

Sitting up, Link's entire head was dripping, but that didn't matter much to him at the moment. Bending over the water he took a handful of it and the edged slowly over to the still sleeping Talim. As carefully as he could, he poured the water in through her slightly opened lips as best he could without splattering it all over her. Once all the water had gone into Talim's mouth or landed on her cheeks or collar bones he held her up and closed her mouth. He waited until he knew that the water had gone down her throat and into her stomach before he set her back down.

Lying down, the elf placed him right next to the sleeping girl, the biting chill of the air only now becoming noticeable to him. Rolling onto his side he placed one of his arms over Talim and pulled her close to him before wrapping her into a tight hug. Another disadvantage about having no supplies was that they had no warmth of their blankets. And with it being close to winter it made that fact even worse than what he would have wanted.

It only took a few seconds from him to fall asleep despite the icy air, still hugging Talim to share their body heat. Clouds circled in overhead like hungry vultures, ready to begin dropping rain down upon the two at any moment. They held it, stretching out and gobbling up any blue that had been left. It began to grow darker, the light from the sun disappearing just as quickly as the sky had.

Neither of the two moved while they were sleeping, the only movements to show that they were actually alive the steady rise and fall of their chests. Another sign the occasional twitching of Link's own ears which were beginning to ache from being so vulnerable to the chill. A few more hours passed until Talim herself slowly began to stir, her eye lids flickering as if she were having a vivid dream for a few seconds before they actually opened.

Talim's vision blurred and then focused and she blinked when she found herself looking at Link's neck. Her brow furrowed before she sat up with the speed of a snail, Link's arm sliding off of her as she went. Once she was sitting all the way up, his hand was laying on the side of her hip. She steadily stood up, Link's hand finally completely falling to the ground with a thumping sound though he didn't wake.

Her legs shook, and she was finding it hard to even stand up without bending over; and even bending over felt painful. She walked over to the small river, coughing from a bizarre taste in her mouth and a film that was coated on her throat. Talim walked strait into the river, sitting down in it and splashing water up into her open mouth. Then, she slowly sank back until her entire body was underneath the water, bubbles rising up and popping once they reached the surface.

After twenty seconds Talim pushed herself back up and wiped water off of her eyes. As she had done this Link's eyes suddenly popped open from the sounds that she was making. It was his turn to sit up and shakily go over to the river and sit down in it. As he sat/fell into the river water flew up onto to Talim but she didn't even flinch or seem to notice that this happened. For a minute or so that seemed to last an hour they sat there in silence, just trying to gain energy from the water around them.

"…Are you okay?" Talim finally asked as she turned her head to look at the elf beside her.

"Yeah. You are too, right?"

"M-hm." She nodded her head before she brought her legs up to her chest and hugged them, resting her chin on her knees. "Link, what was that?"

"What was what?" He repeated as he turned his head to look at the young wind girl.

"In the tornado."

"Oh… magic… I think." He responded as he lifted a hand up and scratched the back of one of his long pointed ears.

"You think?"

"No, not think, sorry. It was just weird magic. I've never felt something like that before…. Um… what about…?"

"The Wind…" Talim whispered, completing his sentence before he had ended it. Link nodded gravely, lowering his hand back into the water. Moving her eyes but not her head she looked at him, her lips in the opposite direction what they normally were. "Gone… Soul Edge destroyed most of their power and took the spirit and locked them away."

Link turned away from her, blinking sluggishly and staring down at the water. It was freezing, so cold that it was making his back ache. "So that's it for the Wind? How is the air supposed to… move?"

"Me."

At her words he couldn't help but turn his head and look her to see that she had moved her own eyes and was looking upwards at the clouds. His eyebrows went together in confusion and he made an 'erm' sound before he spoke. A small silence that lasted for six seconds altogether remained after his mini speech.

"Ah… whadda you mean?"

"I am one with the wind." Talim answered as she straitened her back and placed her palms together, facing them vertically against her cleavage shutting her eyes. "I _am_ the wind."

* * *

…Because I needed to update so badly I'll just end it there at eight short pages. 

Happy Halloween everyone. For some fun tell me what you're going to be for Halloween in your review. Bwa. Ha. Aha.

If you want to talk with me (often) contact me at My account name there is MythicalYoko.

So Until Next Time,

_CrypticElf…._


	13. Upon the Blackest Hour

I'm incredibly, desperately, and **_severely_** sorry for not updating. It just… totally slipped my mind. It wasn't until I looked back at my fanfictions that I realized that it's been **eleven months** since I last updated!

So now, I've kicked my ass back into gear.

I beg of your mercy. T.T;

In this chapter, there will be drama _and_ something else for my reviewers! ;o

* * *

**Chapter Thirteen: Upon the Blackest Hour**

"I hate to say it, but it feels nice to be back."

Talim turned her head to look back at Link and nodded in agreement, smiling as she did so. Talim and Link had been in quite a bit of a problem for the past week. Link had lost his hat, and with his ears revealed he couldn't travel into town. Thus leaving Talim to head into the closest city to get money and buy the proper materials to make a new spiffy green lump for Link's head. However going into a fighting competition was out of the question as Talim had lost her elbow blades when she and Link had been struggling against the tornado that had sucked them away including all of their money. Everything except for the Master Sword had been lost. In the end they managed, and now Link was finally able to venture into the city after having to hide inside of the forest.

"'Hate to say it'?" Talim repeated as she looked back at Link with a tilted head.

"Yeah, normally I don't like all of the crowdy streets but being near people again is good."

Talim nodded and smiled in response, chuckling to herself as Link reached for his purse and opened it to look at the money he'd just won for the tournament he was just leaving from. This would be more than enough to buy what they wanted- although he couldn't think of any place that would have something close to Talim's elbow blades. Those were… unique. If they found it it'd be by luck.

For the next day, the pair went around searching for what supplies they needed, bargaining, battling over cheaper prices, and then finding a room in the inn at the end. At dawn the pair left, concluding that they would have to find another place to replace Talim's lost weapons, and took one of the less traveled roads from the city. Link couldn't help but sigh to himself: It felt good to be able to be back on the road again. Talim seemed happy as well, and the two couldn't help but smile at each other for a while as they walked.

But at the same time a dark thought lingered over the pair. Known by both and yet not spoken at all. It was probably better that way: It would be best not to let anything occur that might make either or both of them less confident. In fact, this was the entire reason for why they didn't say anything. But it was only a matter of time, as a week later when Talim and Link were laying down underneath the stars together one of them finally spoke about the hidden subject.

"Link, what do you think happened to Maxi and the others?" Talim asked quietly one night, sensing that the other was awake.

"…I… don't know." The elf responded slowly, taking his time to answer her question. It was almost the middle of the night and the pair should be asleep, but they had each been kept awake by their own personal thoughts.

"Magic is dangerous?"

"Yeah."

"Do you think it could've… hurt them?"

Link made a soft sigh before he rolled over in his blanket, turning his head to look up into Talim's soft pearl black eyes. Despite the fact that her eyes were a dark brown, her irises tended to remind him of Lake Hylia. The pitched depths of jet, like a swallowing mouth ready to devour what dared to try and swim in the darkened parts of its waters. But the massive lake linked to the domain of the Zora was also soft and beautiful, especially during the night of a full moon. When the beams from the watchful eyes of the goddesses swept down and showered themselves across the lake's surface, like frozen, gorgeous fragile ice. And beneath is lay a blanket, giving the lake the image of a house smothered in frost with the beckoning windows of black echoing warmth beneath….

"Link?"

"…Uh, what?" The elf blinked at her voice, his eyes bouncing back open. Had he fallen asleep? Or was he just daydreaming?

"The magic… do you think it could have hurt them?"

"I'm not sure." He swallowed to himself to clear his throat before speaking again. "Magic is… tricky. It kind of… well, I used to have a spell called Din's Fire. When I would use it, it would protect me but badly damage any fiends, or just beings, that were nearby…. Our magic had protected us… but I don't know if it harmed everything on the outside or protected it too."

Talim was silent for a while before she let an almost lonely, empty sigh. She moved, rolling onto her side and pulling herself underneath her covers to where only the midnight tendrils of her hair could be seen spilling out over the frosted grass like liquid. Link's eyes remained locked on her, his sharp ears listening to the sound of her breathing and knowing from it that the shaman was still awake.

Why couldn't they just sleep?

"Talim-"

"Link, I don't want to, to…."

"Talim? What's wrong?" Link sat up from his blanket, pushing it off of himself and quickly going over to where she was laying. He reached out and pulled away her blanket, thinking that something might be crawling in there, until he saw the glassy look of her cheeks. "Why are you crying?"

"I… I don't want to…." Talim repeated as she shook her head and covered her face with her hands. Her shoulders quivered for a few seconds, Link's hand stilling it as it found its way there.

"You don't wanna what?"

"Hurt. Hurt… people." She surrendered as she shook her head and removed her hands from her face. "I destroyed my people… my family, a-and then Maxi and Siegfried…." She sniffled and rubbed her eyes while Link reached out and grabbed her. She turned her head and looked at him with soft reddened eyes. For a few moments they just looked at each other before Link wrapped his arms around her more fully, pulling her small torso up against his.

"You don't." He promised softly, feeling the warmth of her tears as they rolled down the side of his neck. He could sense Talim wanting to say yes or but, however she remained silent of words and instead mutely cried into his skin.

Once Talim had finished he felt her hand on his neck, trying to wipe away some of the tears that were stained there. He smiled and leaned back, rubbing his neck with his sleeve so she wouldn't have to any longer while supporting her with one arm around her back.

"You don't." He repeated again in a reassuring tone as he gently lowered back down.

"I'm happy that someone thinks so." Talim stated underneath her breath, although loud enough for Link to hear.

Then he looked up, into the eyes that held the stilled depths of the great Lake Hylia but also its peace. The golden parts that were melted beneath, mixed there beneath the eyelashes that framed her eyes.

And then he bent down, his own bright sky eyes locking with hers before they closed and the soft feel of Talim's lips pressed against his the only thing running through his mind. And then they broke apart, Talim's smiling face greeting him when he opened his eyes again.

"Your face is red." Talim teased, making the elf's ears twitch.

"I…." Link's word stumbled off, tripping on his word as he swallowed again. He wanted to move back, because he _knew_ that his face was a bright cherry red. That and the fact that he was embarrassed that his lips were so dry.

"Thank you." Talim purred as she reached up and wrapped her arms around Link's neck, pulling him down. The elf seemed to remain frozen on the ground for a few seconds before he moved, rolling over closer to her. Talim seemed to giggle underneath her breath before she tugged her blanket down, Link accepting and slipping in down beside her.

_"L-Link… i-i-it's fr-freezing…." Zelda shivered, huddled up against the side of the wall. Link himself was sitting across from her, trying to keep warm in the same fashion that she was._

_"Th-th-the w-w-walls," Link chattered in staccato as he moved himself over to where his sister was, then settling down beside her. He lifted his arm and she cuddled beneath it, the queen shuddering against the chill. "S-suck the w-w-warmth out-t-t of yo-you…." Being beside each other would restore warmth, but he didn't have to say anything for Zelda to understand. She was, after all, a genius and didn't need her little brother to start informing her about things that she considered to be common sense._

The memory filtered its way into his mind. The time when he and Zelda had gotten stuck together at a blizzard when they had been climbing together to go visit the Gorons. They'd found a cave and ended up huddling against each other for warmth, Zelda tapping into her magic as well.

But Talim wasn't his sister, so why was he thinking about that?

And then he released it: Warmth.

…He felt… the warmth. The warmth of someone else being beside him, like his sister. He felt as if he was… at home.

* * *

Well, I hoped that the chapter didn't bore you too much! As you can tell I'm a lot wordier than I was before, and I'm more serious when writing. So, to help lighten things, I had Talim tease Link before slipping that little memory in to make the impact of the omega-fluff even more power. Did it affect you at all/3 

And, I had to end it at four pages _because_ it's 12:22 A.M. and I REALLY have to get to sleep because I have a test at school tomorrow. XD Also, I promise that the next chapter will have some lighter stuff in it… of course, your reviews will decide the next chapter! ;)

Read and review!

So Until Next Time,

_CrypticElf..._


	14. Irony

Ayaaaache!

I SWEAR the world is against me!

Or at least my PC. xD

Y'see, a while after I posted the last chapter, my PC's hard drive went wacky and basically... well, crashed.

Ironic, isn't it:

So when I got it back I bitterly had to face the fact that I didn't have Word anymore. And Dell wouldn't give us the disk that we'd needed. D: So, I got to have the joy of waiting forEVER. Then, one day, when I was with my friend Robin and was talking to her about my problem with Word. Then she goes over and hands me the disk!

SO I FINALLY HAVE WORD BACK. But then Finals come up, so I'm delayed yet another two weeks or so. Now I'm finally back and ready.

And learning once again how difficult it is to pick a fanfiction back up when you can't even remember what's been happening in it. XD

That being said, I'm out of wack for writing these things. So, Emerald Wind will be ending soon. I've already made my fans wait way too long for these updates. Maybe I'll make another story like this, but for now, I'm going to end Emerald Wind. This isn't the last chapter, but there will only be another chapter or so left.

Thank you everyone! I LOVE you people for being so incredibly loyal. D:

**Chapter Fourteen: Irony  
**

Link had been embarrassed to wake up in the morning and then suddenly find a warm, soft body snuggled up against his. At first he was startled and confused, but soon after he remember what had happened last night. A question, eyes, crying, and then... His cheeks and the tips of ears turned a soft hue of pink as the memory of last night passed through his mind. He paused, not sure what to do other than lay down and look down at the small head of ebony hair using his chest as a pillow. If Link knew one thing for certain, it was that Talim certainly wasn't being shy about the situation. She had her arms wrapped around him and her body was pressed right up against his. It sent weird sensations up his spine. Link blinked at the wind shaman a while more before setting his head back down. He was probably acting like a baby. After all- how big of a deal was it to have a girl sleeping next to you?

No... wait.

That came out wrong.

Uhhhm...

Link sighed and punched himself softly on the forehead. He was a genius. He set his hand on his chest, looking up at the sky. The colors of dawn were just barely starting to mix with the darkened shades of night. From here, it looked like... well, just pretty, he guessed. There really wasn't a way to describe it without turning feminine himself. Just because his shirt was longer than usual didn't make it skirt.

A soft mumble broke his thoughts, followed by a shift in movement. Link's body grew tight as Talim slowly woke up. She tightened her arms around his frame and yawned sleepily into his shirt. Then she stopped, as if falling back asleep, before sitting up. She looked around and then looked down at Link, who smiled sheepishly at her.

"Good-morning, pillow." Talim chimed before falling back onto Link, getting an "oof!" in response.

"So... I'm a pillow now?"

"Mm-hmm..." She answered slowly while steadily rolling off of him. Once she was completely off Link sat up, tilting his head at her. She normally wasn't this sleepy. In fact, wasn't she usually the one who was waking _him_ up? Link had always thought that she was awake far before the crack of dawn every single day.

For a reason unknown to the elf a smile crept up on his face and for a few seconds just wouldn't go away. The pair remained still for a few seconds until Link broke the paralysis by getting out from the blanket and standing up. He stretched and then hopped into his boots. He turned to look over at Talim for a few moments before stating that he was going to try and find something fresh to eat for breakfast. They were camped out in the woods, so hopefully he would be able to find either some berries or meat. He got a soft mumble in response. This was enough to satisfy him, so he turned around and walked off into the brush with his sword in hand.

As he walked through the brush many thoughts came to him. Surprisingly, they weren't entirely based on Talim. Instead most of his thoughts were focused on his lost ocarina. He... he couldn't believe that he had **lost** it. He missed her... Zelda... Malon... Saria... everyone. A small, sad grin appeared and he chuckled softly to himself.

_'I wonder... what kind I do here?'_ Link thought to himself, almost scaring himself. _'I never really thought too deeply about it... but what am I going to... to do here? I know that I can trust Talim here, but to others... I'll have secrets. I'll always have secrets... It's... kinda weird that I met Talim pretty much the instant that I arrived here, in this place. I mean, it is lucky! Out of everyone here in this place... I was so unbelievably lucky. I didn't know anything about this world. I didn't even think that my ears would have made a difference. What if someone else had seen me? What would've they done?'_ A shudder passed through his body as he stopped in his tracks. _'I... I wonder: who else can I trust here in this place...? I miss everyone, kind of. Well... yeah, I miss them a lot. It's kind of sad that I'll never be able to go back there again.'_

But the three goddess were the goddess of Hyrule- not of Earth. Their powers didn't reach this far. They could only send him; they couldn't bring him back. Link rubbed his forehead with his rough hand and sighed once again. But there was hope... at least he knew that there was one person he could trust here in this world. This world would never **really** be home, but Talim... Talim was.

* * *

"So, where are we now?"

"I don't know," Talim answered, bringing a hand up and looking up at the sun. "We probably should've bought a map in the last town..."

"...Well... as long as we reach that place where that energy is coming from, we'll make it, right?" Link asked, scratching the back of his neck and watching as Talim nodded. "Then again, a map is for looking out for where the towns are. We can't really use a map to track down Soul Edge..."

Talim chuckled in response before running behind him and pushing him forward. Link stumbled for a few moments before catching himself. He turned around and stuck his tongue out at her, getting a giggle in return. Talim ran ahead, Link following in return.

They had left the woods a while ago. Neither of them were sure when. It was almost pointless to keep track of time now. Though the reason for the pointlessness wasn't known; it just seemed like it was.

As regarding what had happened... it hadn't been talked about. Link felt awkward, but it didn't seem as if Talim felt so. She was much more affectionate towards him now- not that he didn't mind. There hadn't been anymore... uh, "lip-touches," but Talim had seemed to adapted to the idea of sleeping beside Link. Though she kept to her own set of blankets, simply setting herself nearer to him than she had before. Link felt like asking her what she felt, but whenever he thought that he might have the courage he would freeze up and end up suddenly becoming a mute.

He had fought countless monsters, saved the sages, defeated Ganondorf, and restored to peace to all of Hyrule. And yet he couldn't even get himself to talk to Talim about what'd happened? Messed up! Link silently shook his fists at the goddesses. They had granted him strength, incredible magical power, and so many other gifts. But they just HAD to leave out that little ability to talk to girls about _that_ kind of a subject. Yeah, thanks Farore!

But it was easier to get over his discomfort with Talim acting so natural. She didn't seem to mind at all. He wondered what was going through her mind and what she was thinking. In fact, he wondered this a lot. There had to be something on her mind. It was only... well, human. Not that he was one, but….

Soon they found a town. It was relatively big. Bigger than usual, but it was still a town. Both of them grinned at each other before walking in, first stopping to get a room at an inn before moving around the town. They both agreed to buy something to eat. Something that was warm, not stale, and tasted different from old bread and ancient cheese. They wandered around and asked about the place that had the best food to eat. Once they were pointed in a direction they took off, intended on getting something edible and tasty. As they entered the building that they were looking for, however, a surprise was set in for both of them.

_**"Maxi!"**_ Talim bellowed, running across the room to a man who was sitting on the table. The man turned around and stared at both of them, stunned for a few moments.

"It's... it's you two!" Maxi's eyes bulged for a few moments as he tried to grab a hold of himself. "How'd you two troublemakers managed to get out of there?"

"Maxi!" Link beamed as he walked up, standing beside a very overjoyed Talim. "You're okay! We thought that maybe- er, well... you were gone..."

"Cheh. You thought that that thing could take me down?" Maxi stood up and then flipped the small curl of black hair he had over his face back. "You seriously underestimate me."

"Of course," Link grinned, copying the hand movement.

"Where are Siegfred and that woman, Xianghua?" Talim asked curiously after giggling at their comments.

"I don't know, actually." Maxi admitted, looking away for a moment before returning his eyes to the two in front of him. "Probably fine though, seeing you two here. How come I keep on running into you punks, anyway? And where've you been this entire time?"

"We woke up in a field," Talim explained, "but we didn't and don't know where we we'd ended up. So we into a city before traveling. But that was... a month ago I think."

Maxi fell back into his seat, a strange look on his face. A few seconds passed and he glanced back up at the two and patted the table. They both nodded and sat down, a smile on Talim's face.

"The food here's pretty good," Maxi commented, leaning back coolly in his seat. Whatever had been bothering him before wasn't on his mind anymore. "Ain't as good as fresh fish strait from the sea, but it's pretty damn good considering what I've been eating lately."

"Stale bread, strange tasting cheese, and old meat." Link laughed, getting a deep chuckle from Maxi in return.

"Sounds just about right. Delicacy is what we wandering fighters eat." The sailor threw his head back and laughed before returning to the previous subject. "Anyway, I don't know what happened to that woman or Siegfred. And I seriously don't understand how the two of you could still be alive after going into that tornado." Maxi turned himself to face Link more directly and then lifted his finger up to make distinct gestures at the young elf. "And _you,_ oh you- you are a complete **idiot,** by the way."

"I… idiot?" Link repeated, titling his head with a confused expression on his face. "Why am I an idiot?"

"Oh sheesh…." Maxi rolled his head and flopped back into his chair. "I really wonder what's hidden underneath that hat of yours. 'Why am I an idiot?' What kind of a question is that? You jumped into the tornado! And Talim- you did it first. Both of you are lacking in total common sense, aren't you? Usually partners fill up the other's gaps, but apparently you two are way too alike…."

"Aw come on, you don't have to say it like that. Talim's a wind priestess, after all. She knew what she was doing."

"Okay then, she's out of the clear. But you're still an idiot."

Link blushed and sucked his lips in to keep himself from saying anything else. Talim reached out and gently patted Link's shoulder. He turned his head to look at her and spotted a soft smile on her face. Seeing that he couldn't help but return it.

"You win." Link held his hands up and lowered his head in defeat. Talim let out a soft chuckle at the two boy's banter, her legs swinging playfully.

"Now that I've gotten the fact out that you're a pinhead, I'd like to discuss more important matters. But these are more private things that shouldn't be heard between anyone else besides the three of us. So, if you have questions, ask them while we eat."

A young lady walked over, just on cue, to ask the trio what they wanted to eat. After getting their food and spending several minutes indulging in hot, practically dream-like food, they slowed down and took the time to start talking again. Talim was the first.

"Maxi, after Link and I disappeared, what happened?"

"Well little miss," Maxi casually broke off a piece of his bread and buttered it as he began. "After you and Link pulled off that stunt of yours, the tornado kept on coming towards all of us. That woman with the strange name kept on yelling something. I couldn't have heard or understood anything that she was saying because of that thing blowing so loudly. Siegfred was just standing there, pretty much waiting. I couldn't blame him for just being there without trying to fight. I mean, what could we have done? So I joined him in plainly standing there. I was thinking about how much of a crappy way that was to go when the tornado started glowing from the inside. I tried to keep on looking but everything was so bright that I couldn't keep my eyes focused. So I blinded. After that all that I can remember it feeling like my organs were being ripped out from my skin and spun around multiple times before finally being knocked-out.

"When I woke up I was covered in dirt that was yellow, for some reason. I didn't know where I was, just like you guys, and ended up wandering around until I found a town. First time in my life I'd ever had to beg for food. I had nothing, everything 'cept for my clothes was gone. I was almost half-dead when I finally found a city. I hated it but I did. Y'gotta eat when y'gotta eat."

"Yeah." Link nodded slowly before tucking a slice of egg into his mouth. He took his time in chewing it, his eyes on his plate as if something curious was there. "That's how Talim and I pretty much ended up. I somehow managed to keep my sword, though. Everything else is gone. Talim doesn't even have anything to use anymore."

"Unless I go back home, I don't think that I'll be able to find anything." Talim added gravely, lowering her food as her appetite began to dissipate. "I'm willing to learn how to use a normal sword, but…."

"No, those weapons were yours and yours only. I can't imagine you using anything else." Maxi interrupted, shaking his head vigorously. "Even though they were completely unorthodox weapons they suited you. You need to use something that's light enough for you to move around with quickly."

"She could get daggers," Link offered with a thoughtful tap on the table.

"I could." Talim agreed, a smile forcefully appearing on her face. "Those wouldn't be too hard to find, right?"

"Not at all, lass." Maxi reached out from across the table and gently patted her head. "Besides, no one could say no to that cute face of yours."

Talim's lips curled up again, only this time she meant it. She nodded eagerly with a bright look in her eyes. Link grinned as well, ignoring the feeling that was stabbing itself into his side.

* * *

The three of them finished their meal and paid. Then they left, heading into the inn to talk about whatever it was that Maxi had on his mind. They went into the room that Maxi had rented for himself. Once they arrived Maxi closed the door and locked it. Then he moved to the end of the room and sat on his bed; his feet set up on the bed frame.

"There's something that I want to talk to you both about." Maxi's voice was lowered, so Link and Talim were forced to come over and sit down on the edge of his bed in order to hear what he was talking about. "It's about Soul Edge. I already told you that when I woke up after that incident that I'd lost everything. I even lost the pieces of Soul Edge that I'd collected. I'm assuming that the same thing happened to you?" He waited until he got the response he'd expected before continuing on. "So we both lost the pieces of Soul Edge that we had. And I recently… well… I recently learned from an anonymous source that Soul Edge has… almost been completed. I have no idea how the hell it was able to do it but the sword has completed itself to almost half. That sword that Siegfred carried was a huge shard from Soul Edge fused with a large sword. Siegfred was actually the previous owner of Soul Edge before it was destroyed; so he was naturally able to find pieces of it much faster than we possibly could. Anyway, it's sounding as if he lost his shards too. I'm starting to believe that the tornado wasn't sent to kill us."

"We all had a significant amount of shards," Talim breathed softly, her hands gripping the fabric of her pants. "When we all grouped together like that it had to have sent off a signal. Whenever a shard is near another it starts reacting. With all of them so close together, the energy must have been incredible…."

"Exactly. That tornado wasn't sent to kill us. It was created to take the shards from us. Morons like us didn't even realize what would happen if we went so close to each other."

Link's eyes closed and he held his head up. He took in a breath and released it, his body shaking softly. "We were trying to do good and thought that collecting the shards would lead us to where the source of the main energy was. We were all fools… we were just acting as Soul Edge's delivery boys."

"Link… Link, what have we done?" Talim's hands covered up her face and she let out a horrible shudder.

"There's only one thing that we can do now." Maxi stated in a hushed tone. "We have to find Soul Edge and destroy it. We have no more time left. Unless we find it and destroy it completely there's no way that we'll stand a chance."

"No… that's not…" Talim shook her head before standing up. Both Link and Maxi looked at her as she began to walk away from both of them.

"Talim, what's wrong?" Link pushed himself up off of the bed and reached out to gently grab her shoulder. "Talim?"

"Please let me go!" Talim pulled herself back before quickly dashing out of the room.

"What's her problem?" Maxi asked, setting his feet on the floor and leaning over. "Did something happen between you two?"

"I don't think that's the problem." Link answered, his eyes locked on the door in front of him. "It has something to do with Soul Edge."

"Let her be." Maxi ordered as Link made a step towards the door. "If there's one thing that I can understand about women it's to leave them alone when they're really upset over something. Stay away from her for a while and see her later."

"But-"

"When you tried to reach out and grab her she pulled away and ran out of the room, Link. She doesn't want your help right now. Leave her alone."

* * *

_'What am I supposed to do?'_

Talim now stood with the town at her back. Her arms wrapped around her sides and the wind blew around her body in twirls and tugs. There was nothing but rolling hills in front of her. But if she were to look just barely to her left there would be a huge forest expanding out for miles upon miles. These hills felt like home. Almost. There was no sea, no mountains. And despite the wind that was flowing around her it had no soul. The Wind was gone, and she was now left in its place to guide the winds to flow accordingly around the earth.

_'Why me? Why was I picked to control the wind now? There are others who have so much greater spiritual power and control than I do.'_ This question burned through her mind strongly as she opened her eyes and looked up towards the sky. _'And now I am also stuck in this situation. My resolve is strong, it will never waver, but what do I do now? Fear is only something that can get in my way. I must cast it aside and let myself start forward on my path! But… Link doesn't understand. Neither does Maxi. Destroying Soul Edge won't do anything. To destroy the sword will destroy Soul Edge, but what about its soul? It's spirit? Absolutely no one through physical means could do something like that. Destroying the sword would only prevent it from finding a new way into the world. Its energies have to be straitened- it needs to be set to course! But how could I convince Link? Would he believe me? And Maxi….'_

Talim dropped down to her knees and hung her head. Her eyes shut and her heart felt shockingly heavy. Talim had been taught ever since she could remember that she had to be like the wind. She had to be strong and wise. She had to soar above her troubles and not allow them to drag her down. To be strong as the Wind was… to be able to be as quick. To act as a vortex- destroying everything in her path while moving with such speed and grave that she couldn't be stopped. With wisdom. The Wind was one of the first spirits to ever be born on this earth. Its understanding and knowledge of history was beyond any possible human comprehension. And to fly above her problems. The Wind gave birds wings as to give freedom to some of the creatures of the earth. And while birds landed on the ground, they still always took back to the sky. They never let themselves be pulled away from the sky. From their troubles.

How could she possibly be any of these? And despite how hard she was trying she couldn't keep herself from being plucked from the sky. Her wings had been ripped off. And now she felt utterly alone. The Wind no longer sang to her and gave her advice. Talim could no longer hear the quiet but clear whisper of its comforting words. And Link… she trusted him. More than anyone she ever had before in her life. But what would he say? How would he react? Talim had kept herself from telling him that what he wanted to do with Soul Edge was wrong. And now it had ended up like this.

She had lost her entire tribe. Her family. Her status as the last wind priestess. She was nothing to them now. A traitor: that's what she was now. All that she had had was the wind, and that had been enough. Then she had met Link and had found her new family, her new home. And then the Wind was torn away from her. And Link- would she lose him too?

How horrible were these problems? Was her mind blowing them beyond any real proportion? What was she doing to herself- was this the right way?

_'To fly above my problems… I have always been able to do that. To see everything a brighter light so that I wouldn't be dragged down by the darkness. But I can't help it. I can't stop myself anymore. What can I do now?'_

A sudden shriek reached her ears. Talim's head moved up sullenly, her eyes wandering around. The scream had sounded familiar for some reason. Then it came again. It was from above. Talim's gaze drew upward and she could barely see a tiny figure flying down towards her.

"Alun…? Alun?" Talim shot up onto her feet, her words growing louder. "Alun! _Alun!"_

One last shrill call came from the bird in the sky before it began its course towards her, moving faster than an arrow. Talim ran forward, her arms outstretched. A hawk soared down to her, pushing itself up at just the right moment to keep itself from slamming into the ground. Alun then pumped his wings and landed on Talim's arm.

"Alun, Alun!" Talim crumbled to her knees again, her face shining as tears began to fall from her eyes. She wrapped an arm very gently around her bird, afraid that if she hugged him to tightly that she might hurt him. Alun made a soft whistle and nipped at her hair.

_'Alone… no… I'm not alone.'  
_

* * *

And there you go. Oh joy, I got angsty. xD;

Well, we'll see how this ends. Review, you... peoples. Review.

D: 

ILU REVIEWERS!


	15. Thoughts, Decision, and a Sacrifice

Okee. Here's chapter fifteen.

I thank all of ye who are being faithful reviewers!

Also, I would like to clarify that this is _not_ my first fanfiction. My third or second, actually. Whether or not there's going to be a sequel on this fanfiction is going to depend on how I decide to end it and if I ever get the desire to return to this story again.

Hahaha, I ran into a funny yesterday. xDD I went back to peek at a few chapters and learned that I'd killed Talim's grandmamma off. I went: "Wow! WTF, I did that? O.o" Am I evil? xD;;

I don't own Soul Calibur or Talim or Link or anyone else in here. This story, however, eez mine.

Talim says to enjoy the story. Dx

This chappie is dedicated to A Fan. He sent me a review and then another one on Gaia. His Gaian one had criticism and compliments. The fact that I actually got a review longer than a sentence totally got me spurred up and gave me the inspiration to write this chapter. xD

**Chapter Fifteen: Thoughts, Decision, and a Sacrifice**

Eventually Link returned to his room. It was done reluctantly, but after some thought he decided that if Talim were to come back that she would return to their room; not Maxi's. He sat down in front of the window at first; so that he could see her when she was coming. After an hour or two he ended up slouched on the windowsill with a hand hanging off of the edge. Another hour or so and he'd propped himself up on the side. After another two hours he began to worry. It was starting to get dark, after all. Talim could take care of herself, but… that wasn't going to stop him from worrying. As much as he wanted to follow Maxi's advice and wait for Talim to come back by herself; he couldn't keep on sitting there. Night was coming and Link at least wanted to be sure that she was in a safe spot or something before he went to bed.

He picked up his sword and shield, put then on his back, and then headed out. He didn't bother to look around the town. He knew that Talim liked open spaces or just being around nature. So, he figured that he would check the outskirts of town before he began investigating other places. He jogged around the small fields that surrounded the small establishment before taking a quick peek in the forest. He couldn't check the entire woods, so all that he could do was take a couple of steps in, listen for Talim, and then leave if he didn't sense her presence. After finding his search outside to be fruitless he went back into town. He wandered around asking if anyone had seen Talim, but it appeared as if she'd merely slipped by without anyone's notice. She was definitely trying to keep herself from being found, because with her clothes Talim was a girl very easy to pick out of a crowd.

Now it was dark and it was time for **him** to get back to the inn. Link felt icky about just giving up on his search. But, he concluded, if Talim wasn't back in the inn he would just keep on looking. Maybe he wasn't putting trust in her enough… maybe he should just wait until she came back like Maxi said. Link shook his lowered head as he trudged back in through the inn's door. Why were girls so hard to figure out? Link knew that Talim was a reasonable girl. She definitely wasn't like some of the girls at Hyrule who paid too much attention to their appearance. But it was hard to guess about where she was and what she was doing. Or was it better that way? Link grumbled as shook his head again as he approached the door to his room.

When he opened it he discovered Talim sitting by the window, slumped over on the edge. He didn't know why he hadn't seen her before. But then he realized that all of the lights were off, so unless he'd actually looked up at their window he supposed that he probably wouldn't have seen her. He sighed as he approached her, stopping as he noticed that there was a bird of some sort perched on her shoulder. It only ruffled its feathers in response before it returning to preening Talim's hair. Link sighed before walking up and laying his hand on Talim's shoulder. When she didn't react he leaned over and realized that she was actually asleep. Link smiled to himself before picking her up bridal style and setting her down on one of the beds. But as he set her down she suddenly sat up, smacking her head into Link's.

"Oh, Link!" Talim had one hand pressed to her head while the other was on Link's shoulder. "I'm so sorry; I didn't mean to do that…."

"It's fine, it's fine." Link assured her, bringing his hand up and smiling sheepishly at her. He rubbed his sore forehead before glancing over at the bird that was picking at a loose thread that was on his hat.

"Alun, off." Talim ordered, waving her hand at the bird. The bird off of Link's shoulder and resettled itself on the windowsill.

"…Alun? Oh no, wait- where've you been?"

"Oh… I was outside." Talim looked away from Link and over at Alun. "I wanted to think for a little while by myself." She moved her legs, pulling them into an Indian style position. "Thinking alone is good for the mind, but it is… lonely."

Link sat down on the side of the bed and then scooted over just an inch closer to her. He reached out to touch her arm, but as his fingers brushed against her skin she flinched and pulled away.

"Talim?" Link asked; his voice barely audible. He tried to hide the hurt in his voice from the react he'd been given, but he didn't know how well he'd done. But whether or not it had come through wasn't apparent, as Talim wasn't even looking at him. Instead her eyes remained locked on Alun. Air rushed in through the window, blowing off Link's hat. It settled on the floor, but he made no movement to reach down and pick it back up. "Talim, please? What's wrong? Is it because of my ears or-"

"N-no, I like your ears." Talim blurted, looking away with a faint flush. "I… I don't know how to explain what's wrong."

Link couldn't help but frown at this. Talim was far better at explaining things than he was so for her to not be able to say anything only had a negative reaction on his part. "Well… gimme a piece of it then. Maybe I can help you say it."

"It's not like that…" Talim answered softly, her eyes lowering in a thoughtful gaze. "Actually… I know exactly what to say; but I don't know how to say it."

Link sat and looked at her, his lips sucked in to keep himself from saying anything. Zelda had often chided him for interrupting her when she was thinking, so he'd learned about to stay quiet during certain situations. Zelda was a master magician, but that didn't stop her from giving really hard smacks to the head without use of her magic.

"Just say it."

"Link, I don't think that Soul Edge should be destroyed."

Link was immediately taken back by this. He moved his body back without actually getting off of the bed, his head cocked back. "What do you mean by 'Soul Edge shouldn't be destroyed'?"

There must have been some kind of anger in his words, because Talim shifted in her spot and scooted closer to the wall. But the elf didn't seem to take notice, as he moved closer to her and grabbed her arm. "Talim, why are you saying that?"

"There is no such power that could destroy Soul Edge completely." Talim answered; her voice even lower than a whisper. Her eyes were looking down at the bed, as if she were watching how the wrinkles changed every time one of them moved. "Not here. Everything has a remnant left of existence. Even if you broke Soul Edge in a million pieces, it would still be there. Even if you burned it its ashes would still be there. No matter what, Soul Edge will always be in here. Soul Edge _belongs_ here. The only way to set everything back in place is to restore the balance."

"Talim, why didn't you say anything about this before?"

"I'm not sure… it just never occurred to me that…."

Link released her arm and looked away from her. His eyes now rested on the wall, his mind slowly working. What she just said made sense, but at the same time, it didn't. He understood things like balance. He was part of a three-way balance- the Triforce. Link pulled off one of his gauntlets and then looked down at the image of three triangles that was imprinted on his hand. He wondered if these marks meant anything now. He could remember how he felt when he'd first seen these on his hand. He could recall being wide-eyed and wondering what the goddesses symbol on his hand meant. Then he learned that he had been gifted with one of the pieces of the Triforce. The Triforce of Courage- and in testimony to his rightful place as its temporary owner that piece was colored golden on his hand. Now it was just a darker shade than all of the rest. He vaguely wondered if his piece was still in Hyrule. He knew that it wasn't with him anymore. Balance… his balance. Did Soul Edge really have to be balanced just like the Triforce did?

"It's just a…" Link remarked aloud, rubbing his ungloved hand. "...Why does it have to be so powerful? And if it has to be in balance, what is its opposite power?"

"Actually, I don't know." Talim moved to where she was sitting down right beside him. "But I do know that Soul Edge can't be destroyed. Not only is it not possible, only disaster would come if someone were able to do so."

"But how can you be so sure that Soul Edge isn't just a thing that's throwing everything off of order?"

"I… I feel it. The energy that I used to feel when I would touch those shards of Soul Edge… I recognized it. It's everywhere. Soul Edge isn't just a thing of physical form, it's everywhere. It's part of the very essence that makes up this world."

Link sighed and rested his head in his hands. He wasn't entirely sure to make of what she was saying. Should he trust her just because she could "feel" it? His cheeks flushed in shame as he recalled how many times her high sixth sense had saved his sorry ass. So why shouldn't he trust her now? He turned his head to look over at her, his eyebrows high up.

"I'll… take your word on it." Link replied as he set his elbows on top of his thighs. "But Talim… if you're wrong, it'll mean a lot of trouble."

"I know," Talim responded quickly; moving her body closer to the elf and setting both hands on a single shoulder. "But I know in my heart that this is correct decision! Please Link, don't doubt me. I…. This has to be the correct decision. I am the spirit of the wind, and I know that Soul Edge mustn't be destroyed."

"But if we _do_ finally find Soul Edge, what are we supposed to do with it?"

"I don't know exactly how to fix it, but when the time comes I will know."

Link eyes moved over the room, taking their time about studying certain details that really had no significance. After a few more seconds his hand moved back to start tugging at the horse tail that he had. "Hyrule was created by the three holy goddesses; Din, Nayru, and Farore. Din is our goddess of strength, Nayru our goddess of wisdom, and Farore the goddess of courage." He lifted up his hand and flexed it into a fist. "I would give my life up if the goddesses asked me to, because I know that everything that they say is all for the better of the people. And for them, I would die without being asked to if it was what would keep them all safe. The three goddesses… they protect Hyrule, even when it seems as if they aren't paying attention. Why wouldn't they tell me that Soul Edge had to be balanced instead of destroyed?"

Talim offered no answer. Instead she remained still with her eyes closed. Then she took in a slow, deep breath and said this: "If you really trust your goddess that much, then Link…."

"I can't trust you if the goddesses' word opposes yours, b-but…" Link mentally swore at himself for letting his voice make a tiny crack as he spoke. "I trust your word more than anyone else's…."

"I've had my time to think," Talim replied softly, her hands gently squeezing his shoulders. "I think that it's your time to go."

Link nodded, stood up, and walked out of the room. All of these actions were performed without any words or a sound coming out from his throat. Talim listened as his foot steps thudded through the hall, the stairs, and then finally to the ground outside. She didn't move to the window to watch him. He would go where he needed to go. Talim laid down her side and pulled the pillow from underneath her head. She wrapped her arms around it and then curled her body up into a small ball. They had spent so much time together. Talim supposed that maybe now they should spend some time apart.

* * *

The night air was… refreshing. The breath in this world was starting to become familiar and was also beginning to feel nicer. He supposed that was what happened after spending so much time in one place.

Link was lying on his face, his hands tucked behind his head, his backpack dropped beside him, and nothing above him but stars. The sky above him… all of those tiny, glimmering lights, lay out amongst each other like diamonds sewed across a blanket. Each and every one of those blinking pearls was placed in such random spots, but they were all placed so… perfectly. What god had created this world? These skies? While it wasn't the same as Hyrule, in many ways it was just as beautiful. At least Hyrule and Earth shared one thing in common: stars. Maybe… maybe they shared the same sky? The same moon? Link had looked up so often at the night sky when he was just a kid and wondered about so many things. Some how just looking up there made you… lost. And thoughtful. Well… at least if you looked at it long enough.

Link's foot bounced from side-to-side as his thoughts took their own way. It was eerie being alone like this, but at the same time he'd forgotten about how nice it could be. The other times he'd been alone had been when Talim was injured and unconscious. _That_ had not been a very good time. It'd only happened once, though, as he thought back about it. Hadn't that been when that strange being had attacked him? What had it been…? Charade? That was probably the name, but right now he really couldn't remember.

When you were trapped underneath so many stars like this… it was just… Link mentally shrugged to himself as he fought for a way to describe everything that had happened. Sometimes he resented having been sent here- he was willing to admit that. He loved everyone from Hyrule… the people, his family, the very land itself- and he was angry at times for being forced to give all of that up. He could remember leaving. So many more things that he'd wanted to say, and he'd also wondered who would save Hyrule when the next threat came. Who would protect his precious people? He would never be able to see their faces again. He closed his eyes, just for a second, and watched as memories flashed over his eyelids. He smiled faintly, reopening his eyes and searched for the moon until he found it; sitting perfectly still in some nearby corner of the sky.

Still, regardless of the anger that sometimes showed itself, if Link had been given the choice of changing his decision about going here or not, he knew that he would have done the exact same thing. Even if the goddesses had commanded him to come, it had been unneeded. He loved all of his precious people. For them he would be willing to sacrifice everything- even if protecting them meant never seeing any one of them again.

Now he was here; in this world that was becoming his home but still remained new and sometimes dangerous. He didn't have so many precious people anymore- Talim was his precious person; and maybe Maxi as well. He took in a single breath of air to try and help settle the thoughts that were traveling across his mind. It was true that he wasn't famous or renowned like he had been before, but Link had never sought to gloat in his own fame. He did miss being able to walk into a town and have everyone happily greet him, but it was because they were his friends. It had nothing to do with his desire to have every single person know his name and throw themselves at his feet. It wasn't that at _all._

People to protect… he had to fulfill his mission. He had just one person that he knew that he really cared about- and that was Talim. Maxi was also his friend. They were only two people, but did that make any kind of a difference? Not in his heart.

Still… who was right? His goddesses or Talim?

His eyes lowered as he muddled in his mind. The goddesses knew everything. Their words… every action that they performed was always for some ultimate reason that was meant for the goodness of Hyrule- even if that goodness didn't come for many generations. But did their knowledge extend to this world? They were the goddesses of _Hyrule,_ not Earth. He knew for a fact that their powers didn't come here. If that were true then he would have a chance at returning to his birth land.

Talim, though just a human, was connected to the energies that surrounded this world. Her ways of communication and control over nature was not made of magic. It was something… deeper. She could sense the properties in the air, earth, and the differences in the tide of good and evil flowing through the air. She had control over all of the winds of the earth and yet somehow managed to keep at her same personality level.

Both of them were level contestants. So… which one should he choose?

Destroying Soul Edge would be nearly impossible- or so he thought. It was true that the last time Soul Edge had been "destroyed" that it had merely been shattered into many pieces and scattered across the continent. Resetting Soul Edge's energies made it sound as if it would temporarily fix the problem. Maybe for a generation- maybe several hundred years? He didn't know. Either way it sounded as if there was no way to completely stop Soul Edge.

* * *

After several hours had passed Link got up, stretched, and then returned to the inn. When he reached the room it was pitch-black and he could hardly see a thing. He moved to the closest bed, lightly touching the top blanket to check and see if there was a body underneath it. There was. He moved his hand away but was quickly stopped when Talim reached out and grabbed his wrist. He heard her sit up, move her legs, and then felt his wrist being lightly squeezed.

"You're still awake?" Link whispered his tone of voice soft.

"I am. Did you make your decision?"

"Not… really." He responded, his lips moving slowly as they formed their words. "I thought about both ways… but it neither of them sound… right. Destroying Soul Edge has always been unsuccessful- after all, it's been here for a really long time, hasn't it?"

"Something like Soul Edge… can never be destroyed." Talim replied, her voice having the gentle edge of sleepiness lingering on it. "The blade is not what makes Soul Edge powerful. It's… just a shell."

"…Shell?"

"Yes. My body- your body- is just a shell of what's inside. Even if someone were to take a blade and stab it through my heart, I wouldn't truly die. My body would, but my soul would still exist. It's just the exact same way with Soul Edge. Destroying the _sword_ Soul Edge is possible; but destroyed Soul Edge itself… that is impossible. A soul cannot be destroyed. It can be absorbed, faded, or locked away- but it cannot be destroyed completely. The soul of Soul Edge would lose power for a little bit but it would only move onto a new host. It could be another sword or maybe even a person. And Soul Edge is evil- in a manifested form. As long as there is evil Soul Edge will always exist. As long as there is goodness Soul Edge will always, forever, remain here as there must always be black with white. The only way to make it stop its actions is to restore the balance. It won't last forever, but peace would be in effect longer than it would if the sword were destroyed. It's the same as a roof. You can fix or replace the roof, but no matter what, it will need to be replaced from damage given by the sun and rain."

"If there is Soul Edge… what's the counter balance?"

"I don't know."

"If we want to restore the balance… we've gotta find it." Link's hand wrapped around Talim's wrist to returning her firm grip. "If we want to be sure it win… then… it's the best way to go."

"I don't know what the counter balance is, but… I know that we'll be able to find it." Talim moved her body forward, then wrapped her small arms around Link's waist and buried her face into his stomach. Despite their serious talking Link couldn't help but blush at her actions along with a humming feeling inside of his stomach and chest.

"Together." She said into his tunic. Link moved his hands, setting one on her back and the other on the top of her head.

"Together." His lips twitched for a smile, but the smile didn't appear. Despite this, Talim reacted to the sound of his voice with a tiny grin.

"Lay down, Link." Talim tugged softly at his tunic to reinforce her words. Link kicked his boots off before setting himself down beside her, listening as she lay down beside him. There was silence between them, though Link could hear her drawing in breaths of air. Talim's hand moved against the blanket they were laying on top of. She grabbed Link's hand, affectionately rubbed the top of his gauntlet with her thumb, and then linked their fingers together.

* * *

"So are you two like a couple or something?"

Two heads turned towards Maxi, who had finished his sentence by sticking a piece of toast in his mouth. Talim and Link blinked and then looked at each other at exactly the same time before returning their eyes to the pirate.

"Seriously," Maxi covered his mouth as he swallowed and then resumed his talk. "You two are all over each other."

"We are **not."** Link defended, bringing a hand up in defense. "I mean- we're not all over each other!"

"But you two are a couple?"

"Uhm…."

"I say yes!" Talim was practically beaming in her chair, her back strait and her eyes glowing. "How can someone not like another person who's wearing such a pretty hat?"

Link blushed and rubbed the fabric of his hat as Maxi snorted. Maxi leaned forward, pointing at Link's hat. "Where'd y'get hat thing, anyway?"

"III've…" Link patted the green lump sitting adopt his golden head. "Had this kind of a hat… forever. I don't remember what it's even for…."

"What is it, eating your head?" Maxi laughed and got a glare from the elf in return. "No wonder you never take it off! Y'can't because there's little teeth sucking on your head!"

"Hardy har har." Link retorted, pulling his cap down securely onto his head.

"Well, kiddos, I've gotta split." Maxi threw some money on the table before he pushed his chair back and stood up.

"Maxi," Talim looked up at the older man, her head leaning over to a side. "I have a little question... why are you going after Soul Edge?"

"About time that you asked," Maxi replied slowly, setting himself back down in his chair and pulling it back up to the table. "It's mainly for… revenge."

"Revenge?" Link repeated an eyebrow going up as he released his hat. "Against who?"

"Funny thing is," Maxi chuckled, leaning back into his chair with a cryptic grin on his face. "I really have no idea."

Link and Talim both frowned, and the latter of the duo tilting their head.

"Doesn't make sense, does it?" He rubbed the back of his neck, letting out a half laugh. "I just know that whoever I'm after is hunting for Soul Edge. What's your purpose?"

"To find Soul Edge and restore it's balance."

"Very innocent. Typical." Maxi closed his eyes and leaned his head back. "I gotta go now. I'll probably end up seeing you two again. Weird affinity we've got goin' on here."

Maxi stood up and waved to the other two who were looking remorsefully at him. They both gave him their good-byes and good-lucks before he walked out, Talim's eyes lasting on the door the longest.

"There he goes again." Talim sighed, slumping in her seat. She picked dully at the remains of an egg on her plate. "Where are we going to go now?"

"Wherever you think we should, I guess." Link stretched his arms up over his head, staring at the ceiling.

"We're so far away from Soul Edge…" Talim respected her head in her hands, a frustrated tone in her voice. "It keeps on moving! We can't keep up with it. All that we're doing is going in circles. It's impossible…."

Link almost jumped out of his chair, head immediately moving down to look at her. Link had never heard Talim speak so negatively before. He set his hand on her shoulder before pulling her onto his lap for a hug. Talim tensed for a moment before relaxing into his arms, a hand gently grabbing onto his tunic. "We can find it. We have to."

She made no reply for a few seconds. But then, soon after, she gave a small laugh and hugged his neck, resulting in a blush.

* * *

"Do we have enough money?"

The question came from Talim as the pair stood before several horses. Link sighed and scratched his head, shrugging. "I dunno… it would be so much easier to rent. Too bad we can't."

"If you two ain't got enough money then I ain't want you lookin' at my horses." A gruff voice stated from out of nowhere, making the two jitter in surprise. "No money, no business."

"I guess we'll just have to continue on foot, then."

"But that's too slow." Talim responded, her shoulders lowering as she began to think. A hand played with the ornament she had hanging around her neck. Her eyes lit up and she looked down, a look of happiness and sadness appearing on her face. "Sir… do you accept… items?"

"Depends." The stall owner replied, stepping up to look over at her. "What cha' got?" Talim unclasped the necklace around her throat and then held it the elaborate piece of jewelry out. He examined it, glanced at her bracelets, and looked up at her. "I'll give you one horse. A mare. For the necklace _and_ both your bracelets."

"These are very precious items to my tribe!" Talim countered, setting her hands on her hips and looking stubbornly at him. "They were elegantly crafted specifically for me and are made of very good material." Talim put the necklace back around her neck and turned around to leave.

"Uh-"

"We'll come back later." Talim promised, giving the man a smile before motioning for Link to follow her. The elf did so, trailing after her with a mixed expression on his face.

"You really don't need to give up your jewelry." Link stated, trying to prevent Talim from doing whatever she was planning. "Walking is fine. Besides, getting used to riding horses takes a really long time."

"No… it's okay." The sadness in the disowned tribal daughter's voice was evident, yet there was still a tiny smile on her lips. "I am… no longer apart of the tribe from whence I came. I shouldn't wear these any longer. All that I'm doing is pitifully clinging to my past like a moth to candle light. They would be put to better use in getting money."

"Talim-"

"Don't worry, Link." Talim looked over at him, replacing her smile with a grin. "Besides, don't you think it's time I got something new to wear?"

* * *

And it has been ended.

Review, yo.

So Until Next Time,

_CrypticElf…._


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